The Cheewalla Meet 2020: Namaste Trump!

By T S Haokip

The relevance of wall and Donald Trump is not confined to the US alone. Inspired by the US President’s wall policy, India too built one just a few weeks before the POTUS’s visit. It was neither grand nor costly but it did justice to the idea that is Trump. A lot of efforts were put in to ensure that the newly built walls caught the notice of the visiting President. ‘Namaste Trump’ was chosen over the Gujarati ‘Kemcho Trump’ to greet the POTUS after the Central Government decides that Namaste represents India. One wonders how the question otherwise even occurred. There surely must be someone who confused his role of himself being a representative of whether Gujarat or India.
‘Modi hailed from a Cheewala family, ‘ said the US President, evoking praise and admirations to the Indian PM. ‘Chee! Chee! Chaiwala ko Kaise pronounce Karta hain,’ said one viewer of the Press Meet even as Donald Trump was literally enduring a tongue-twisting exercise, trying to pronounce Swami Vivekananda’s name correctly at the inauguration of The Motera Stadium, the largest cricket stadium in the world. The largest statue in the world, situated in the same state was unveiled by Modiji just a year ago. Just as ‘Kemcho Trump’ was considered a probable to represent India’s welcome message to Donald Trump, the infrastructure development of Gujarat state is also regarded as one representing the country’s development by both the rulers (Read ruler) and people alike.
The US First family visited Taj Mahal not knowing the fact that the monument no longer is in the State’s Tourism brochure. Standing in front of an iconic structure, which symbolises love and Sacrifice, The President appeared to have said something to the 1st lady. It cannot be, ‘Want me to built one for you?’ as the President’s family is expected to be briefed at least about Taj Mahal being a monument built in memorial of a lost love; Mumtaj Mahal. Whatever was said, we just hoped it was not, ‘want me to buy this for you?’ though that would naturally delight few people working on making the ‘statue of unity’ a trump card for India to brag about.
The 1st lady visited schools in Delhi which the Delhi Government under Arvind Kejriwal administer with near perfection. That being said, the rationale behind India displaying its schools to a US President seems to puzzle everyone. In India, a foreign delegate being shown schools and students would normally mean a display of supporting evidence for aids and grants. But showcasing our schools to the US? It does, however, makes sense if we, considering the high number of students flocking the US for higher studies, are trying to romp in American students for studying in Indian Primary and Secondary schools. That would make perfect sense.
At the backdrop of the now almost pandemic,’Novel Corona Virus’, two world leaders meeting could have given false hopes to few. However, it does not require one to be an expert on world politics to understand that the US is the last country in the world that will be bothered by ‘sufferings in China’. Many believe that Trump-Modi meet was all about vote bank politics and an image make-over initiative where one leader who has just survived an impeachment and is fighting an election later in the year is eyeing Indian origins’ votes and the other leader who received flaks from various quarters on the passage of one legislation by his Government, CAA to be precise, wants redemption, especially from international community. Be that as it may, the visit proved to the world that India and the US are not just ready to work together on many issues but Donald Trump and N Modi are indeed best friends.
Trade is a trait Donald Trump was born with. Considering the fact that all trades, irrespective of its size require meticulous planning and execution or simply put, ‘preparation’, India is not far behind in having experienced leaders from the field. The visit, surely, does not contain any major trade deal. But what is also important is the fact that, apart from trade talks, two largest democracies in the world- ‘India and US’ should find common goals and strive towards collaborating and shouldering their roles effectively in ensuring world peace and prosperity in the 21st century. After all, whether one likes it or not, there is a world beyond the wall.