Where America and India will meet, differ

Donald Trump's victory provides the opportunity to recall the verve that led to the articulation of the Comprehensive Global and Strategic Partnership - for India and the US to work towards strategic convergence in the Indo-Pacific and beyond

- Rudra Chaudhuri

Two tweets from Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi provide evidence of the Indian government's clear desire to deepen the United States (US)-India relationship on top of and beyond an architecture for diplomacy that was reframed in February 2020, during then-President Donald Trump's State visit to India. Between a "Namaste Trump" rally in Ahmedabad, where the 45th US President stated that America "should be India's premier defence partner(s)," and formal engagements in New Delhi, negotiators from both sides placed the substance that drives this crucial relationship under a new syntax - the Comprehensive Global and Strategic Partnership (CGSP).

The CGSP was emphasized in Modi's tweet congratulating Trump on winning the US election to become the 47th American President. PM Modi was one of the first world leaders to congratulate the President-elect, beaten only by French President Emmanuel Macron by a mere four minutes. PM Modi's tweet went out with a set of four photos of the two leaders sharing moments in merriment. Similar tweets in the past congratulating world leaders on winning elections are text-based. These signals may seem trivial, but they are not. Seemingly, the PM has sent a clear message: the Indian government is more than ready to work with the new American administration.

The second tweet, following a telephone conversation with Trump - only a few hours after he had declared himself the winner, underlined the significance of intensifying collaborations "across technology, defence, energy, space," and other sectors. In 2020, when the CGSP was announced, "longstanding and practical collaboration" in technology occupied a few lines in a joint statement.