A New Paradigm In India-U.S. Relations?

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Narendra Modi and Donald Trump at Howdy Modi event in Houston, Texas. Image courtesy: Ministry of External Affairs, India.
Does Modi's call, "Ab Ki Baar Trump Sarkaar," augur well for the long-term interests of Indian Foreign policy?

The Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the United States for the seventy-fourth United Nations General Assembly’s summit. His visit to the United States is “unprecedented,” and “historic,” indeed.

The “Howdy Modi” event at Houston, Texas, is “diaspora diplomacy” at its best. This is the first time an Indian Prime Minister, for whom the Indian-American community organised a large event on the American soil, invited an American President to join him to “meet his family.”

President Donald Trump’s decision to attend an event held for Prime Minister Modi makes political sense for Donald Trump. Traditionally, it is a well-known fact that “Indian Americans lean left.” Almost “sixty-five per cent of Indian Americans were Democrats or leaned towards the Democrats, making them the Asian American subgroup most likely to identify with the Democratic party,” according to a survey published by the Pew Research Centre.

With the dramatic increase in the Indian-American population, the Indian-American community has become an important vote base. In 2017, there were more than four million Indian-Americans, up thirty-eight per cent since 2010. Many of them are wealth creators – doctors, engineers, business people and entrepreneurs – who wield considerable influence in the American society. The Indian-American community are a great source of political contributions and support, which the Republicans want to tap into.



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