‘Howdy Modi’
| Date :24-Sep-2019 |
THE chants Modi, Modi, Modi said it all, as they often do in all locales, offering United States President Mr. Donald Trump a better and closer glimpse into what Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi actually stands for. The unprecedented event ‘Howdy Modi’ certainly had the unmistakable Modi stamp, but it also showcased the power of the united Indian diaspora. Whatever the world had been seeing in bits and pieces at various places around the world in the past five years reached its epitome in Houston, Texas, inscribing a wonderful Indian signature on global affairs. Never had an Indian Prime Minister (or any world leader, for that matter) hosted the US President in the United States and acted almost as his patron.
At ‘Howdy Modi’, this reality surged to fore, in the process demonstrating the ever-growing collective Indian prowess and its ever expanding circle of influence. Yes, the slogan by Mr. Narendra Modi Ab ki baar Trump Sarkar may have shocked many since it came most unexpectedly. For the first time perhaps has a national leader endorsed a possible presidential candidate in the United States. Yet, as has been his wont, once again Mr. Modi has broken a new ground, launched a new idea to further the Indian cause. Another nuance of this metaphor pertains to the sense of strength that the Indian diaspora has been able to garner and garnish over time and more particularly in the last five years.
‘Howdy Modi’ was, thus, a testimony to the wonderful symbiosis the Indian diaspora and the Indian Government have been able to work out so well, in such fine detail. It appeared only natural for President Mr. Donald Trump to express full willingness to join ‘Howdy Modi’ to celebrate multiple successes -- in diplomacy, in bilateral relationship, in common causes. For him, the participation was an unofficial launch of his re-election campaign. For him, the encomium from Mr. Modi was an endorsement of the mutuality of interests between the US and India, and also a reiteration of a high-quality personal chemistry the two leaders enjoy. There could never have been a better way to tell the world what kind of connect Prime Minister Mr. Modi has with his people, when he said, in effect, that he was introducing Mr. Trump to his family (of all Indians). Mr. Trump almost seemed to blush when Mr. Modi gave an elaborate description of the connect the two leaders had, the smile on his face ever-widening! But what Mr. Modi achieved via ‘Howdy Modi’ obviously has multiple dimensions -- not easy to capture in a word or two, a sentence or two. In his own 50-minute speech, Mr. Modi did offer the details of his Government’s achievements. Yet, neither was it a political speech nor any type of bragging. He put everything in a wider perspective, explaining the philosophical nuances of his actions and related those to the present conditions internally and internationally. But even as he did that, Mr. Modi did not lose sight of the comradeship he enjoys with Mr. Trump and kept returning to the friend of India in the White House in honourable mentions. Yet, at no time did all that appear as a public-relations exercise.
Much to the contrary, Mr. Modi talked of things which the audience in the NRG Stadium -- and elsewhere in the world -- felt like expressing. On very rare occasions can a nation experience such a solidarity of thought! There is little doubt that the ripples of ‘Howdy Modi’ will travel far and wide and deep in time ahead. For, by no standard was it just a political event; it had a strong cultural signature as well and a candid assertion of the sense of unity the Indian and the American people have achieved over time. The event, thus, was a meeting of minds of the two large and great democracies of the world from the grass-root to the tree-top levels, something that can make any other nation/s unabashedly envious.