“Will take US-India ties to next level again” : Donald Trump

The former US president Donald Trump, has vowed that if he is elected president in 2024, he will elevate US relations with India once more. At a Republican Hindu Coalition (RHC)-organized Diwali speech for around 200 Indian-Americans at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, Trump said he had a fantastic relationship with Hindus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and India. If he were to be elected US president in 2024, he declared that Shalabh Kumar, the founder of RHC, would be his nominee for ambassador to India.

RHC posted a video of Trump’s speech at the Diwali event last Friday, in which he stated that he has not yet decided whether to run for president in 2024, but if he does, and wins, he has a number of promises to the Indian American community.

We had support from the Hindu population, the great Hindu people both times (2016 and 2020) and great support from India, people from India. I fully endorsed the idea of building a Hindu Holocaust memorial in Washington DC. I think it’s time… We are going to get that done,” Trump said.

Trump believes that if the Hindu population in the competitive States had not supported him, he most likely would not have won in 2016. In the event that he is elected president in 2024, he has promised to restore America’s relationship with India to its former zenith. In his remarks, Kumar stated that Trump has been a staunch ally of the Hindu community and that the RHC is pleased with the progress it has done over the years to strengthen and inspire the American diaspora.

“Diwali is a time for all of us to reflect upon the victory of light over darkness, and to look towards a new year of prosperity and peace,” he said. Under Trump, US-India relations had never been stronger, as both sides fostered a relationship rooted in facing common threats from Pakistan and China and with respect and admiration for each other, the RHC said in a statement. Indo-US relationship made great strides in 2017, with President Trump keeping his electoral promise of being the “best friend of India” inside the White House.

The only nation for which the Trump administration released a 100-year plan was India, an honour not given to even America’s closest allies. To the dismay of China, the Trump administration not only renamed the Asia-Pacific region the Indo-Pacific, giving New Delhi a larger role and space throughout the entire region, but it also explicitly said for the first time that India is a vital player in Afghanistan.

For the first time, a US president allied himself with New Delhi’s view that terrorism originates from Pakistan when Trump announced his South Asia Policy in August, giving India a crucial role in restoring peace to the war-torn nation.