A kerfuffle has broken out after Shashi Tharoor’s latest comments suggesting disenchantment with the Congress party and which were preceded by his high praise for the economic policies the Kerala CPI(M) government and Narendra Modi’s US visit. About the latter, he said, “We have got pretty much all that we could have expected at this time… except for an assurance on the way in which migrants have been sent back.” Strikingly, Tharoor asserts that Trump “calling Mr. Modi a better negotiator than himself was astonishing…I think we are looking at a very high degree of praise from a man who is not known for saying praiseworthy things.”
Tharoor’s praise has been termed, in neutral political quarters, as a continuation of his much-lauded bipartisan approach, especially on matters of foreign policy. The jury is out on Modi’s US visit with experts suggesting that it did not advance the relationship, that it benefitted the US more, or that it is very early to assess the results.
But the more important question is, does Tharoor’s comment on Trump as a person who is sparse with praises for other leaders stand up to factual scrutiny? It appears that it does not. Therefore, Tharoor’s comments on Trump’s praise risk amplifying what I call as the Hindu nationalist-led superficialisation of Indian diplomacy that we see in the Narendra Modi era. Here, foreign policy is not just reduced to symbolism over substance, but often theatrics which is meant to glorify the leader. This is nothing surprising, as scholars argue, “personalisation” is the hallmark of far-right populist politics, whether it is that of Trump or Modi.
Witness the breathless excitement over the mere act of Trump pulling the chair for Modi, among ordinary supporters, the pliant big media and, shockingly, as headlines even in the serious media. Even as India seeks great power status, we see a simultaneous process of deliberate and rampant de-intellectualisation, of course, aided by the era of social media and short attention spans. This was blatantly evident in the press interactions of Modi and Trump and the kind of questioned posed by the Indian press corps selected for them.
The problem of yoking the greatness of the most populous nation and the largest democracy in the world to only inanities such as a chair being pulled for its prime minister is that we have the internet reminding us that even an uncouth a personality such as Donald Trump has been routinely extending such a courtesy to not only to world leaders, but also to others such as corporate CEOs, his own administration officials, and even school teachers. This is, of course, shocking in the context of the largely feudal political culture of India where bureaucrats kneel in front of chief ministers. And if diplomacy has to be assessed only by symbolisms, then, we are forced to confront the fact that Modi was the only leader not to be received at the door of the White House by Trump amongst the heads of state of Israel, Japan, Jordan and France who visited over the last month.
While psychiatrists debate about whether Trump is a narcissist or a solipsist, he has a long record, unlike Tharoor’s contention, of showering praises on authoritarian leaders as well as those who have good relations with him. What the Indian TV glossed over was that in the latest Modi-Trump interaction, Trump stressed, despite China being their biggest common adversary, “I got along with President Xi very, very well. We were very close as leaders go.” He refused to criticise China and even offered to mediate between China and India’s conflict. On different occasions, he has referred to Xi as “fierce,” “very smart”, “strong like granite” and a “brilliant man.” Trump even went onto say that “there’s nobody in Hollywood that could play the role of President Xi – the look, the strength, the voice”!
Trump has called Vladimir Putin, “very smart;” credited Turkish president Erdoğan’ for lifting Turkey “to a new level of prominence and respect!” referred to Viktor Orbán, the prime minister of the tiny nation Hungary as “one of the strongest leaders anywhere in the world;” boasted about the fact that Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar addressed him as “your excellency;” and termed Kim Jongun as “very nice” as well as a “tough, smart guy.”
This is the list of some of the worst dictators in the world that Trump has expressed his admiration for. And while Indian “nationalists” exult at Trump’s words for Modi, they should know that Trump had said that Pakistan, India’s arch enemy, was a “great country” and that Imran Khan, then prime minister, was going “to be a great leader.”
Trump often resorts to superlatives, hyperbole and also speaks with a forked tongue. After all, Trump, in the same press interaction with Modi, had disparaged an Indian reporter’s accent, and had in the past mocked Modi’s accent as well. Donald Trump is arguably the best illustration of what the scholar Hyvönen terms as a “post-truth” politician, whose hallmarks are careless speech, unpredictability, and systematic employment of blatant lies. While most diplomacy is transactional, political scientists have noted “what’s different under Trump is that what “Trump wants in return has to do with Trump,” and not necessarily America.
Under the surge of right-wing populist and fascist movements across the world, there is a consecration of the great leader above institutions and laws exemplified by Trump’s recent dangerous post: “He who saves his Country does not violate any law.” Modi is a mirror image of this. A byproduct of this personalisation is the direct communication of the leader with the masses on social media and the consequent “mediatisation of foreign policy” or Twiplomacy (Twitter diplomacy).
While it is not surprising the Hindu nationalist ecosystem is taken in by Trump’s praise for Modi, when an influential opposition voice, more importantly, a self-affirmed liberal such as Shashi Tharoor, who has been a career diplomat and a union minister for external affairs, lends credence to it, it will only accelerate the far-right led Tiktokification of Indian diplomacy in which hyper-nationalist reels of the greatness of the prime minister and the foreign minister on the world stage play on an endless social media loop.
Within a few days of the Modi visit, Donald Trump revisited the negotiations: “They [India] charge the highest tariffs in the world… Here’s what we’re going to do: reciprocal. Whatever you charge, I’m charging… Nobody can argue with me” on tariffs.
Nissim Mannathukkaren is with Dalhousie University and is on X @nmannathukkaren.
A version of this piece was first published on The India Cable – a premium newsletter from The Wire & Galileo Ideas – and has been updated and republished here. To subscribe to The India Cable, click here.
