A bittersweet year marked by the ‘Howdy Modi’ moment
WASHINGTON: It was a year when trade tensions between India and the US came to a head. And it was also a year when US President Donald Trump stoked India’s sensitivity on the Kashmir issue with repeated offers to mediate.
More than anything else, 2019 will be remembered for an outreach to the Indian diaspora by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump. The image of the two leaders walking hand in hand around an arena was made for history.
And it was. The ‘HowdyModi’ event was a milestone in relations between the two countries.
AN EDGY START
The year started badly. Ties were thrown into a crisis in January by the apprehension of more than 600 Indian students of a fake US university set up by authorities to bust a pay-to-stay scam. India reacted angrily, slamming the “entrapment”.
THE TURNAROUND
The sense of panic and despair that hit bilateral ties - marked by testy exchanges between officials of the two countries over entrapment - was dissipated a fortnight later by unequivocal American support after the February 14 terror attack in Pulwama that killed 40 CRPF personnel.
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Tensions over trade, in the meantime, were escalating quite rapidly, feeding on unresolved issues and also on Trump’s goal to end America’s trade imbalances by weaponising tariffs.
The US announced in March its intention to terminate India’s access to the GSP. It held off the announcement till May at the request of the Modi government.
MILITARY BONHOMIE
Defence ties, meanwhile, continued to improve. The convergence and interoperability between the two militaries received a boost with the signing of the Industrial Security Annex. The two nations also concluded three crucial agreements under the DTTI.
A TALE OF TWO ISSUES
The second 2+2 ministerial dialogue, which concluded December 18, was marked by growing scepticism and suspicion of the Modi government among young and emerging leaders of the progressive caucus of the Democratic Party on two fronts: rights issues concerning the situation in Kashmir after Article 370 was scrapped, and the recent enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act.
Most vocal of them all was Pramila Jayapal, an Indian-American Democratic lawmaker from Washington state.