Try GOLD - Free
Trump's MAGA Meets Modi's Vishwaguru
The New Indian Express Madurai
|January 19, 2025
HE hemispheres of global politics are divided by a guild of alliances that are a salmagundi of nationalist interests.
America First and Viksit Bharat are two examples. This week, when the 78-year-old Donald Trump moves into the White House for the second time—after bucking the impossible odds of scandal, impeachment and criminal conviction, just a few months after Narendra Modi 3.0 happened—four years of unpredictable U-turns and conflict of ideologies will again be par for the course.
Sometimes, diplomacy is dinner by other means and humble pie is often served. India's diplomat turned semi-politician, foreign minister S Jaishankar, will break bread at Trump's inauguration feast. On the new geopolitical menu, the minister will have to read between the lines of the world's most powerful leader's speech. Trump will be taking his victory lap a phrase farther—Make America Great Again and Again or MAGAA.
In the other hemisphere, Modi's mission is to make Bharat an economic, social and cultural Vishwaguru. America is a global strategic and economic power. But after Modi's ascension, India's international bourne has shifted. More assertive and unwilling to surrender its legitimate place at the global high table, Modi's Bharat engages in diplomatic doublespeak to be flexibly aggressive. To paraphrase the present populist paradigm, 'there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent ambition'.
Trump is the anarchic alchemist of contradictions: an anti-elitist elite buoyed by redneck support and oligarchs' camaraderie. To untie the Gordian knot of his thought, Indian diplomats, foreign policy experts and corporate leaders with US establishment ties have been twisting and trysting in India and the US. Trump and his advisors are bent on dismantling Washington's globalist, democratic edifice. American and Indian diplomats have been criss-crossing the Pacific to firm up a road-map for mutual engagement.
This story is from the January 19, 2025 edition of The New Indian Express Madurai.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM The New Indian Express Madurai
The New Indian Express Madurai
ESTIMATING THE CRUCIAL PARAMETERS OF SUN'S CME
CIENTISTS at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bengaluru, and National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA), USA, have collaborated to estimate the crucial parameters of a coronal mass ejection (CME), very close to its liftoff from the Sun, with the Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC), the primary instrument on Aditya-L1 mission - India's maiden solar observatory designed to study the Sun.
2 mins
November 19, 2025
The New Indian Express Madurai
Lack of conversion ritual of Muslim woman no bar for divorce under Hindu Marriage Act: HC
HOLDING that mere absence of any ceremony for conversion from Muslim to Hindu religion cannot be a ground to dismiss the divorce petition filed under the Hindu Marriage Act, the Madras High Court has overturned an order of a subcourt that dismissed a mutual divorce petition by a couple where the wife had converted from Muslim to Hindu religion and professed the faith since marriage.
1 mins
November 19, 2025
The New Indian Express Madurai
Trump hosts Saudi crown prince as he clears F-35 jet sale
DONALD Trump welcomed Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Washington on Tuesday as the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia makes his first White House visit since the 2018 killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents.
1 min
November 19, 2025
The New Indian Express Madurai
Security upgrade in e-passport rollout
WITH the nationwide rollout of e-passports, a major technological upgrade designed to enhance security and streamline global mobility is on the cards for Indian passport holders.
2 mins
November 19, 2025
The New Indian Express Madurai
Dalits, minorities targeted for deletions: Thiruma
VIDUTHALAI Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) president Thol Thirumavalavan on Tuesday alleged large-scale irregularities in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to immediately intervene to ensure free and fair elections in Tamil Nadu.
1 min
November 19, 2025
The New Indian Express Madurai
MAKING ENEMIES OF BEST FRIENDS
HREE things have survived in India through the ages: poverty, gold, and dogs. Through the ravages and miseries that this country specialises in and perpetuates, the triad has stood its ground.
3 mins
November 19, 2025
The New Indian Express Madurai
Namakkal farm gate price of eggs hits record ₹6 apiece for first time
DRIVEN by strong domestic demand, coupled witha slight dip in production, egg price in Namakkal has climbed toa record high of %6 per piece at the farm gate for the first time on Tuesday.
2 mins
November 19, 2025
The New Indian Express Madurai
Cloudflare glitch hits X, ChatGPT & transit systems for hours; services back
A widely used Internet infrastructure company said that it has resolved an issue that led to outages impacting users of everything from ChatGPT and the online game, “League of Legends,” to the New Jersey Transit system early Tuesday.
1 mins
November 19, 2025
The New Indian Express Madurai
SC recalls order on post-facto green clearance
THE Supreme Court on Tuesday recalled its May 16 judgment that had prohibited the Centre from granting retrospective Environmental Clearances (ECs) to projects that had violated environmental norms.
1 mins
November 19, 2025
The New Indian Express Madurai
Rahul steps up offensive, says Cong will fight SIR politically and legally
STEPPING up his attack on Election Commission of India (ECI) and ‘vote theft’ allegations, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday cast doubts over the SIR process at a meeting with key AICC office-bearers of 12 states and Union Territories where the revision of electoral rolls is underway, and said the party must challenge the exercise politically, organisationally and legally, according to sources.
1 mins
November 19, 2025
Listen
Translate
Change font size