New Delhi: Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump had surprised many by claiming that he would have a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the latter’s visit to the US to attend the “Future of UN” and QUAD summits.
But, it appears that such a meeting was never on Modi’s itinerary as the Prime Minister has already departed for New Delhi.
Earlier, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had confirmed that there was no “specific meeting at present” with the former US President. Neither did the Prime Minister called on the Democrat candidate Kamala Harris in the poll-bound country.
Experts believed that this clearly indicated that India was comfortable with either Democrats or Republicans coming to power in the US Presidential polls due this November. Moreover, they claimed that it also reflected that PM Modi had no desire to promote one candidate against the other.
‘Different response from US side’
However, some claimed that the Indian response in poll-bound country was different from the actions of senior US diplomats, who visited Jammu and Kashmir last month ahead of polls in the Union Territory. Senior American diplomats visited various political leaders in the Union Territory, including National Conference Vice President Omar Abdullah at his Gupkar residence.
Modi didn’t meet Mohammad Yunus
There was also a lot of speculation around Modi’s meeting with the Chief Advisor to the interim government of Bangladesh, Mohammad Yunus, with some media reports suggesting that Modi was avoiding meeting Yunus as a snub.
On Monday, instead of Yunus, who was listed as the speaker at the UN Summit, Bangladesh’ foreign affairs advisor Touhid Hossain spoke. When asked, India’s Foreign Secretary, Vikram Misri, said, “The Prime Minister is leaving in a few minutes from now. The chief advisor of Bangladesh is not here yet, so there hasn’t been any possibility of a meeting on this occasion”.
According to reports, Foreign Adviser Touhid Hossain had stated that he would hold talks with India’s Extrenal Affairs minister S Jaishankar to advance the relationship between the two countries.
NSA Ajit Doval dropped from PM’s team?
Another point of media speculation was about National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s absence. Some reports suggested that he was dropped from the PM’s team for the US trip due to a Federal court issuing summons against him on a lawsuit filed by Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun. The presence of Doval in the US might have diverted the attention from PM Modi’s meetings and agenda to a debate on the Sikh issue.