Trump Rang Modi Over His Big UP Win. Since When Is That a Thing?

Trump Rang Modi Over His Big UP Win. Since When Is That a Thing?

It makes perfect sense for world leaders to call the winners of national elections in other countries to congratulate them. “Hey, I hear you're the person I'm going to be communicating with on behalf of my country, congratulations and hello, let's be friends!” is the general vibe, usually.

But a number of leaders, from US President Trump to French President Hollande, to Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, to the leaders of Sweden, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, all called our own PM Modi to congratulate him on his big win in UP – a state election. Now why would they do that?
The Quint spoke to experts – ex-diplomats and journalists – to find out what the deal is. One thing they all agreed on is that such a call is indeed very unusual, and that they couldn’t remember another time that national leaders had congratulated another national leader on a state election

 One doesn’t usually comment on state elections because these things are dynamic. While a national election is final, party victories can change from one state to another, so it is a risk to congratulate a win. To call and do so is to really send a very politically supportive message that ‘we rejoice in your success’.

Asked if India had ever called to congratulate a sitting president or prime minister over any similarly big mid-term victory, Sibal appeared to chuckle with a firm “absolutely not”.

G Parthasarathy, ex-diplomat and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, when asked why Trump was reaching out to Modi in this unusual fashion, said:

Modi was one of the first people to call Trump on his victory. [...] Trump has tried to establish a personal rapport with Modi. Obviously, he has been told the relationship with India is looking upwards.

On being asked how unusual it is for a US President to call another world leader over a state election win, he quipped:

Presidents don’t go on precedence. Presidents set precedents.

So is this definitely a precedent being set then? “Yes.”

But it wasn't just Trump who called, it was a slew of world leaders. Isn't that odd? “In many of these circles, in Europe and in the US, Modi is regarded as a decisive leader. It’s also a manifestation of that.”
Is this, in his experience, the first time these other world leaders have called to congratulate about a state win? He replied:

In my experience, working with every PM from Nehru to Vajpayee, yes.

Although he qualified it by saying, “But I don’t consider that different in any way from the fact that every president has their own diplomatic style.”

Does this signal a new phenomenon, a kind of Modi effect? Parthasarathy demurred, “Well, let's see how it goes.”