Indian PM Modi skipped Asean summit due to worries Trump would mention Pakistan: Sources
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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving a virtual speech at the Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 26.
PHOTO: EPA
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NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi stayed away from a regional leaders’ summit in Malaysia this week to avoid meeting US President Donald Trump and having a possible discussion about Pakistan, people familiar with the matter said.
Officials in the government were apprehensive that Mr Trump would repeat his claim that he mediated a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after a four-day armed conflict in May, the people said, asking not to be identified because the discussions are private.
India has consistently denied Mr Trump’s involvement
Relations between India and the US have soured since the Pakistan conflict five months ago, with Mr Trump slapping tariffs of 50 per cent on Indian exports
Trade negotiations have dragged on since then, without any clear sign of a deal yet.
The Prime Minister’s team did not see any clear outcomes from a possible bilateral meeting with Mr Trump in Malaysia, the people said.
A call between the two leaders last week had not met New Delhi’s expectations, one of the people said.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr Modi is campaigning for his party in a crucial state election that kicks off next week, and he did not want to risk a meeting with Mr Trump that could end up being embarrassing for the Prime Minister, the people said.
Mr Modi is the main face of his party’s campaign in Bihar state and any comments by Mr Trump, especially regarding Pakistan, could be used by the Prime Minister’s rivals against him and damage his party’s chances at the polls, they added.
Mr Trump has insisted several times that he played a pivotal role in ending hostilities between Pakistan and India, saying he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in resolving that conflict and others.
A key part of his trip to Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur this week was to oversee the signing of a peace dea
On Oct 28, Mr Trump again referred to his role in the India-Pakistan ceasefire, saying he had prevented a possible nuclear war by using trade deals as a negotiating tool.
“I said to Prime Minister Modi, and I said to the Prime Minister, very nice man and very good man – and the Field Marshal over in Pakistan, I said ‘Look, we’re not going to do any trade if you’re going to be fighting’,” Mr Trump said at an event in Tokyo.
The response was “No, no, no. One thing has nothing to do with the other”, the US President said. “I said, ‘It has a lot to do with the other’.”
Modi’s absence
In contrast to India’s position, Pakistan has given Mr Trump credit for securing a ceasefire and nominated him for the Nobel prize.
The US President has, in turn, heaped praise on Pakistan’s Army Chief Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, whom he called “great people” on Oct 26.
Mr Modi’s absence from the Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur was unusual.
Since taking power in 2014, he has attended all the leaders’ meetings, except in 2022. In 2020 and 2021, the Asean summits were held virtually because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Modi and Mr Trump previously shared a close bond, campaigning for each other in elections.
That relationship has now been heavily criticised by Mr Modi’s rivals, like Mr Rahul Gandhi, a top leader in the main Indian National Congress opposition party.
“PM Modi is frightened of Trump,” Mr Gandhi said recently in a social media post highlighting the Prime Minister’s silence on Mr Trump.
Ties between the two leaders went downhill after a tense 35-minute conversation in June where they directly discussed the conflict, Bloomberg News previously reported.
Mr Modi and Mr Trump have subsequently patched up, and spoken to each other at least three times since September.
Despite those calls, Mr Modi’s decision to skip the summit shows his hesitancy to engage directly with Mr Trump, whose unpredictable comments in front of the media have led to embarrassing moments for other leaders, such as Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa.
Mr Trump has criticised India for its ties with Moscow, demanding that it halt purchases of Russian oil, which he says is helping to finance President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Mr Trump recently said India has indicated it will curb those purchases, allowing for a resumption in trade negotiations.
New Delhi has not confirmed whether it will halt Russia oil buying, but recent US sanctions on two major Russian oil suppliers have forced Indian buyers to seek alternate sources.
Mr Modi gave a virtual speech at the Asean summit on Oct 26, instead.
His foreign minister S. Jaishankar met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Kuala Lumpur on Oct 27, where the two discussed bilateral ties.
Mr Rubio earlier told reporters that the US’ relations with Pakistan do not come at the expense of India.
Mr Modi is scheduled to attend the Group of 20 leaders summit in Johannesburg in November, where he will have face time with leaders, people familiar with the matter said.
They did not rule out the possibility that the Prime Minister and Mr Trump could meet in the coming months if trade talks progress. BLOOMBERG
