‘India can count on me’: Surprise Trump call at US I-Day event

NEw DelhiJust when the audience at an case on sun scoring the 250th day of remembrance of the US’s independency thought the highlight of the evening was a performance by AR Rahman, US ambassador Sergio Gor rolled out a surprise – a phone call from President Donald Trump.“I just want to say hello to everybody. I love the Prime Minister, [Narendra] Modi is great, he’s my friend and I just want to say a very good evening to everybody,” Trump said as Gor held his phone to the microphone within a hall at Bharat Mandapam.“We’ve never been closer to India and India can count on me 100 % and our country,” Trump said in his usual expansive manner. “If they ever need help, they know where to call – they call right here.”There were the usual Trump claims about the performance of the US economy – “We’re doing well, we’re setting records. We’ve a record economy, a record stock market” – and praise for Modi. “I am a big, big fan of Prime Minister Modi,” he said.The event, which was attended by secretary of state Marco Rubio and external affairs minister S Jaishankar following their bilateral talks earlier in the day, featured a stellar performance by AR Rahman, who rolled out his hits such as “Dil Se”, “Tere Bina”, “Kun Faya Kun” and “Maa Tujhe Salaam”.Trump referred to Rubio as the “greatest secretary of state in the history of the US” and concluded by saying: “Say hello to Prime Minister Modi and let him know I’m a big fan.”Jaishankar, in his address, said the US declaration of independence articulated ideas that shaped the modern world, such as individual liberty, rule of law, free speech and accountable governance, and their resonance in India was natural given the country’s history as a pluralistic society with a consultative ethos.The experiences of the US independence movement were taken into account by the makers of India’s Constitution and the affinities between the two sides have grown with deeper economic and technology ties, Jaishankar said.The shared traits of being political democracies, market economies and open societies have been strengthened by a convergence of national interests and this has enabled the two sides to overcome the “hesitations of history”, he said. He also noted that the Indian diaspora in the US has helped build political understanding between the two countries.Jaishankar contended that the world being in an era of transition made the case for the India-US relationship even stronger. “Both nations gave a common interest in derisking the global economy and providing the world with more choices,” he said.There was also an impromptu celebration of Rubio’s birthday and the evening was capped by a performance by the American band Village People, a favourite of Trump’s. The band performed its hits such as “YMCA” but was a pale shadow of its former self, with singer Victor Willis the only member of the original line-up.