Admit it: Modi's US visit was a waste
PM Modi is the most-travelled prime minister in Indian history. This was his second trip to the US. But what has he achieved? How has he strengthened Indian foreign policy positions? First of all, his speech in the UN was in Hindi with citations in Sanskrit. Most UN representatives did not understand, many stayed away. Secondly, the PM's plea for a revised definition of terrorism was weak and ill informed. The UN bodies have discussed several definitions of terrorism, in which the causes and not just the end result are discussed. The US will not be a party to an open attack on Pakistan on grounds of its terrorist activities, despite all the evidence produced by India and passed on to the US.
Thirdly, the G-4 proposal for the restructuring of the UN and the expansion of the Security Council was badly framed. The four countries in G-4 include Germany, Japan, Brazil and India. No country from the Arab-West Asia region, Africa, or Oceania (Australia) is included, weakening its support from those regions. China has an old, but serious problem with Japan. It is not very friendly with India. Russian-Indian ties are not as close as they were. So the G-4 proposal is weak and overly optimistic. Yet Modi had an unnecessary dig at BRICS by saying the "I" in BRICS was not adequately appreciated though India was the largest growing economy. This is a startling claim. Is India's economy comparable with China? No. Then why this absurd claim?
Fourthly, in the PM's trip to Silicon Valley, nothing major was signed, though there was some interest, but this will depend on India's economic development. Not much of a takeaway. But what about the San Jose meeting where 18,500 expatriate Indians and several Congressmen and Congresswomen were present? There are lakhs of Indians in the US. This meeting was much smaller than the one in Madison Square Garden, New York. Moreover, not a single senator was present. The Congress is dominated by the senate. President Obama's second term is coming to an end. If the Republicans win the presidentship and the majority in the senate, the latter in particular, is very likely, equations with India may be quite different, not what Modi and his advisors imagined.
Finally, the most intriguing event was the PM's speech in San Jose. In his usual rant Mr Modi accused the Gandhi family of corruption, not something of US interest. In his soaring rhetorical style, Mr Modi claimed that what in 40 years, earlier Indian governments had not achieved, he had done in 100 days. But in his arrogance he forgot one critical fact. One of the allegedly non-performing governments was the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government which has been an icon for the Sangh. Modi, in his vainglorious oration, forgot this signal fact. There must be consternation in the Sangh Parivar since this was pointed out by me on Times Now on September 28 night.