India Must Reach Out to Trump at the Earliest, Says Tharoor

Former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor speaks to CNN-News18’s Pallavi Ghosh on Donald Trump’s stunning victory in the US elections and what India can expect for his presidency.You have lived in US for so long, it’s almost your second home. So what happened? What explains this victory of Donald Trump after allegations of groping, tax fraud, cheating?

I’m also alarmed by the complacency with which many Indian analysts on TV think that Trump will be good for our anti-terror efforts with Pakistan. Though Trump sees “radical Islamic terrorism” as the biggest threat to the US and the world, the Pakistani generals have proved adept at convincing Republicans that they are the best bulwark against Islamist terror. That’s how GHQ Rawalpindi has extracted $11 billion in military aid from the US so far. I fear we may see a repetition of the same, using Trump’s own logic in Pakistan’s favour.Any steps you think our government should immediately take on foreign policy front to readjust itself to this new reality?

We should reach out as early as possible to Trump and the motley crew of advisers around him who might constitute his foreign policy team – not just the Cabinet but the whole series of likely political appointees in the bureaucracy. I assume that we have begun to do so.What explains this rise of the anti-politician around the world? Putin, in a way Modi and Abe, and now Trump?

It is far too early to tell. A lot will depend on the team he assembles and how serious he seems to be about carrying out his election promises. Often campaign rhetoric does not translate into concrete policy choices. But in any case Mr Putin would expect better relations with him than he would have had with a Hillary administration. As for Mr Modi, I hope he is canny enough to keep multiple options open in India’s interest. We have interesting times ahead!