Does Indo-US Ties Get a New Definition with Donald Trump's Visit to India?

US President Donald Trump is the seventh US President to visit India since Dwight D. Eisenhower, who first visited India in the year 1959 and was welcomed by cheering crowds. Six decades later, Donald Trump receives similar euphoric welcome when he touched down Indian soil for the first time in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

As promised Prime Minister Narendra Modi also ensured warm welcome reception for his dear friend and the US President Donald Trump organizing a grand 'Namaste Trump' event in the Motera stadium.

Motera stadium, the world's largest cricket arena in Ahmedabad also witnessed Modi-Trump's series of praises for each other as Prime Minister Modi started by saying, “In the 21st century, when new alignments, new challenges, new competition and new opportunities are laying the foundation for the change, Indo-US ties and cooperation will play an important role in determining the world’s direction". 

The Prime Minister also said before the cheering crowd of more than a lakh at the Stadium, "I firmly believe India and the US are natural partners. We together can make an effective contribution towards peace, progress and security not just in the Indo-Pacific region but in the entire world.” 

US President Donald Trump in his speech also hailed India and its people while taking a sunny view of its ties with India.

Prime Minister Modi used the platform to present the  future objectives of the country as he said, “The next phase of India-US ties is beginning, we believe in the long term vision, digital cooperation and bilateral economic ties will grow and we will be able to fulfill our common dreams.” 

The relationship between the two countries was not always warm. So now despite the apparent bond between Narendra Modi and Donald Trump, critics doubts the ties may last long.

Looking back into the history of the Indo-US relationship. India made the first move when Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru first visits the US in October 1949, to meet with President Harry S. Truman two years after India's independence from British rule.

But the bond couldn't grow stronger as there were differences in opinion between the two countries that erupted over the issue of non-alignment.

Prime Minister Nehru took the leading role in the group that sought to represent developing countries that did not align themselves with either the United States or the Soviet Union and reject imperialism and colonialism. 

The relations between the two countries further worsened in the 1960s with India's growing relationship with the Soviet Union, which was then giving assistance to India in the military as well as in the economic front. The Soviet Union also mediated to put an end to the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965. 

During India's war with Pakistan in 1971, India successfully helped in the creation of Bangladesh. The United States chose to side with Pakistan. But the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war came to an end in just 13 days forcing the Pakistani army to surrender in front of the Indian Army.

In the same year, India ramp up the development of its own nuclear program. In the year 1974, India under the leadership of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi surprised the whole world, when it successfully conducts the nuclear test.

In January 1978, US President Jimmy Carter visits India, but two months later his administration passed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act, forcing India to allow its nuclear facilities to be inspected by the IAEA. India refused the decision of the United States and accordingly the US ceased all nuclear assistance to India.

In 1982, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi met her US counterpart Ronald Reagan thus the process to resolve their differences began. After two years Vice President George H.W. Bush visits New Delhi and strategic and economic relations between the two countries improved.

In 1998, India under the leadership of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee once again conducts nuclear test close to the Pakistan border in Pokhran. President Bill Clinton once again impose economic sanctions on India, but it couldn't go much longer as Clinton himself kick-started the ties with a trip to India, the first by a US president after more than 20 years.

Since 1991, India was emerging as the new economic power which also for the first time invited foreign investment, thereby improving the trade ties between the United States and India improves.

After Bill Clinton, when George W. Bush becomes the US President he first lifts the sanctions imposed on India after the 1998 test. The nuclear issue was set aside permanently in 2005 after the Indo-US nuclear deal was signed by US President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. 

Today, the relationship between the two countries is far beyond these limitations. In the last two years India has procured $18 billion worth of defense items from the United States and in the future many more such defence and strategic cooperation coming both ways. Both the countries now jointly conduct more bilateral defence exercises in each other's territory.

India is the largest trading partner of the United States in goods and services. In the year 2018, the combined business with overall bilateral trade was of $142 billion. This year, the figure is going to exceed by $150 billion.

There are an estimated four million Indian origin American citizens, along with one million non-resident Indians and more than 200,000 Indian students in the United States. The number clearly exhibits the political influence of the Indians in the United States and Trump cannot overlook all these factors at a time when the United States is gearing up for its next presidential election.