Tulsi Gabbard in India

After taking over the reins of power in the United States(US) for the second time, President Donald Trump has been proactively pursuing a policy of situating American interests in the forefront. He has emptied the US of the immigrants whom he considered illegal. It included the Indian nationals as well. They were sent back by a military carrier and handcuffed. This didn’t went well with the Indians who had started assuming that the India-US relations were on an all time new pedestal after the shift in geo-politics due to the assertion of the Chinese hegemony in Indo-Pacific region and spread of the Beijing’s tentacles in the Northern Frontier. Though India-China relations have seen a bit of improvement after the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met and eased the tensions followed by the visit of Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri to Beijing. Border tensions may have eased but the concerns raised by the Indian army commanders about the long term strategic issues along the India –China borders will surely define India’s security paradigm as far as China is concerned. The US led by Donald Trump has also threatened the rise in tariff that has also ruffled many feathers in India. In such a scenario, the visit of the US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is a welcome move. She is considered to be the India sympathiser who has always shown a keen interest in Indian civilizational tradition and Indic culture. She internalises the civilizational moorings of India. That is indeed a plus point when the US is moving ahead belligerently without caring for the sensitivities of even friendly nations like India when it comes to trade and citizenship rights of the Indian nationals in the US. Her visit will surely help to iron out the differences that may have crept on the diplomatic level. Her meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi symbolises her fondness for Indian culture. She was gifted the Gangajal ( Water from the Holy Ganga) from the recently concluded Maha Kumbh. While handing over the pitcher of Gangajal, Prime Minister Modi said, “In the recently-concluded Maha Kumbh, a 45-day-long festival, more than 66 crore people took a holy dip at the Triveni Sangam – the confluence of the three holy rivers the Ganga, Yamuna, and now extinct Saraswati. I also took the dip. The Gangajal is from the Kumbh”. Tulsi Gabbard too reciprocated this gesture with an equally apt gift that is a special Tulsi rosary. This underlines her deep understanding of the Sanatan Dharma as she is herself the practitioner of the same. It is hoped that this chemistry in India-Us relations leads to a new era of bilateral relations ending the apprehensions that may have crept from the recent US posturing. Gabbard is in India as part of her multi-nation visit. On 18th march she will conclude her Asia visit with her address at the Raisina Dialogue. It is a multinational convergence of security czars in New Delhi. She has arrived to attend on the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She also met the Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. He apprised her about the anti-India activities of the banned Khalistani group Sikhs for Justice(SFJ) from the American soil. It is pertinent to mention that the subversive activities of the Khalistani groups from the American soil have increased and this is being taken seriously by India. Underlining the imperative of Tulsi Gabbard’s Indian visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has clearly said in his post on the social media site X that while welcoming her to India, both India and the US are committed to combating terrorism and enhancing maritime and cyber security co-operation. One thing is clear that India and the US states are destined to strengthen the bilateral relations for the peaceful world to defeat the evil of terrorism that is the worst danger to both the democracies.