A Gulf That Was Bridged On Golf Course

A short conversation between Trump and a private Indian citizen may be behind the recent warming of India-US ties. What happens now will depend on the governments

- K P NAYAR

Behind a seeming thaw in the atmospherics between India and the US from last week is Washington's biggest secret of the moment—a meeting between President Donald Trump and a private Indian citizen.

The venue of the meeting? Where else, but a golf course! How long did the meeting last? Just over 10 minutes, which is about the duration of the septuagenarian president's normal attention span. The two men did not discuss trade tariffs. It was not a diplomacy pow-wow. They talked about Trump's daughter Ivanka's 2017 visit to Hyderabad. The Indian citizen was very much there. They recalled Trump's visit to Ahmedabad 27 months later. The Indian was present there too, and told Trump that seeing him in person was the greatest moment in the lives of a quarter million people in Gujarat. "A quarter million Indians!" Trump exclaimed. "Explain that to me." There were 132,000 people inside the Narendra Modi Stadium, which was filled to capacity, was the explanation. There were an equal number of people who lined up on the route of Trump's cavalcade wherever he went in Ahmedabad. Trump knows that he cannot get that kind of a crowd in his own country. Or for that matter, anywhere else in the world.

Exaggerating the importance of the 'Namaste Trump' events five years ago, the Indian said it was one of the high points in his life as well. The hype was meant solely to hit its target—Trump's huge ego. The two men briefly talked about real estate projects promoted by the Trump Organization, which entered commercial property development in Pune five months ago for the first time in India. Praise was showered on the vision of Trump's son Eric, who is in charge of the India projects, and whom the Indian has met many times in connection with this real estate business. India is set to have the most number of Trump Towers anywhere in the world outside the US.