New phase in India-US ties: India will have to deal with unpredictability

Mr Modi's visit will have attempted to convey that, unlike the troublesome Europeans, India is a far more congenial partner for an America being remade by a second Trump term

High on New Delhi’s list of objectives prior to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington would have been the need to demonstrate that India is a willing and active partner for the new administration, led by President Donald Trump. Indeed, while Mr Trump was welcoming Mr Modi to Washington, his vice-president was speaking at the Munich Security Conference — a speech that effectively laid out the many ways in which the new dispensation in the US disagreed with its allies in Europe. Mr Modi’s visit will have attempted to convey that, unlike the troublesome Europeans, India is a far