In an unusual Facebook chat, BJP’s national general secretary Ram Madhav, who is known to be an advisor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that India-U.S. ties would remain stable irrespective of the political stance of the next President of the United States following the 2016 election.
“U.S.-India relations are bipartisan and are on a strong wicket. Vajpayeeji described the two countries as natural allies,” Mr. Madhav said, while answering a question from The Hindu on the chat.
He also acknowledged that the India-U.S. commercial ties were not gathering speed due to disagreements on the bilateral regulatory mechanisms. He expressed general optimism about the Indian government’s stance on foreign affairs but stuck to the position of Pakistan being the “epicentre of terror”, indicating that the BJP thinkers on foreign affairs are yet to recover from the negative impact of the latest cancellation of bilateral talks between National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and his Pakistani counterpart Sartaj Aziz.
He, however, agreed that there had been setbacks to Indian ties with Pakistan and Nepal in recent months but said the “ups and downs” could be overcome by the diplomats of the MEA. The chat brought back focus on the India’s hard position on global terrorism. In recent months, Indian policy-makers have repeatedly discussed the need for a globally acceptable definition of terrorism. Mr. Madhav too reflected that thought and hinted that Pakistan remained a difficult issue on Modi’s foreign affairs plan of action.
