The Silence of the Lambs

Why does the American-Indian community remain indifferent and silent when the US President seems determined to demolish Narendra Modi?

- Harish Khare

VERY many people respect Shashi Tharoor, the Member of Parliament from Thiruvananthapuram, as a perspicacious observer of men and matters; some even regard him a prescient in the art of changing loyalties. It was, therefore, entirely natural that he would have been the first to voice disappointment over the American-Indian community's studied reticence—and, apparent, disloyalty—in the context of Donald Trump-induced turmoil in the Indo-US relationship. To most people in India, the Indian diaspora's silence in the clash of egos between the US President and Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems as disquieting as it jars as unnatural.

The silence seems unnatural because for over a decade we have been made to believe that the Indian-origin citizens in other countries, most particularly in the US, are natural partisans of Prime Minister Modi. They would gather in very large numbers in Houston or New York because they naturally feel gratified that at last India has a leader of whom they could be proud of because he has made them feel proud to be “Indians”; they would throng the airports just to get a glimpse of Modi because they are mesmerised by his charisma; and, we were made to believe that the Prime Minister now strides like a colossus on the world stage and that he has the clout and the heft even to make a difference in the American presidential contests.

So, how could these “Indians” remain indifferent and silent when the US President seems determined to demolish the over-sized myth of Modi, the global statesman? Why are they not writing letters to their Congressmen and senators, protesting this very public mauling of India and its leadership? Why this betrayal?