Around 15 months back in the run-up to the US Presidential Election in 2016 when the American Liberal media was not taking the then Republican candidate Donald Trump seriously because of its affection for the Democrat candidate and the former US Secretary of State and the First Lady of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Donald Trump had released a video message to appeal to the Indian community in the US to vote for him. The message had Trump speaking in Hindi and appealing to the Indians living in the US to vote for him. The video message had Trump saying, “Abki baar Trump Sarkar”.
US President Donald Trump who was until then merely a Republican candidate for the Presidency of the United States had actually borrowed this campaign slogan. In 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the BJP candidate for the Prime Minister had come up with the slogan “Abki Baar Modi Sarkar” slogan ahead of the Lok Sabha election. Donald Trump has been consistent in his supportive views of the Hindu community. Trump had then even said, “If I am elected President, the Indian and Hindu community will have a true friend in the White House”. He had even vowed to defeat radical Islamic terrorism. Shalabh Kumar, an Indian-origin member of the Republican Hindu Coalition is also believed to be close to the US President. In the US Presidential Election in 2016, Donald Trump triumphed over Hillary Clinton in the political arena.
Meanwhile, on January 19, 2018 at Allahabad, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s development-oriented policies had even inspired US President Donald Trump. Yogi Adityanath expressed happiness that it was a matter of pride for 125 crore people of India. Yogi Adityanath was quoted by news agency ANI as saying, “When U.S. President Donald Trump was asked how he will work for the development of his country, he answered just like Prime Minister Modi is working for the development of India”.
While Yogi Adityanath’s claim could appear outlandish to the uninitiated, it cannot be rejected outright. For instance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagship Make in India program is similar to the US President’s call to big businesses in the United States to manufacture goods within the country in order to create more jobs. While Prime Minister Modi does not miss an opportunity to stress on his mission of putting “India first”, President Trump has repeatedly indicated the mantra of his approach to governance as “America First”.
In August 2014, when Donald was on a visit to India, he was not even a contender for the position of the President of the United States. He was then unequivocal in his praise for Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had then recently won a full majority in the Lok Sabha election thereby becoming the first Indian Prime Minister in 30 years to achieve this electoral feat. Trump had then described Prime Minister Modi as a person who had united India, brought all the factions together and done an incredible job of unification. At that point of time, Trump had said that he would give the idea of running for the US Presidency a serious consideration since the US was not being run properly.
Interestingly, both Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump have had an uneasy relationship with the media in their respective countries with the so-called “liberal” section of the media and intelligentsia hounding the two leaders and badmouthing them at any given instance. Modi, Trump and Yogi are known not to mince their words when they speak, and this irritates the liberal lobby both in the US and in India even more. Recently, The US President announced his unusual “the most dishonest and corrupt media awards of the year” with prominent liberal news organizations such as New York Times, Washington Post and CNN ‘winning’ these awards. “If I ran (for the President of United States) I’d do very well”, Donald Trump had said in Mumbai back in 2014. Only, if the liberal media had been liberal had viewed him seriously back then!
