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Expressing his “profound affection” for India, President Trump gushed “I love Hindu”. The puzzling adoration of Indian masses at home and abroad for India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is matched by India’s curiosity or “affection” for President Trump.

Preparations are in full swing for “Namaste Trump” Back from his triumphant “Howdy Modi” visit to the US, Modi is pulling out all the stops to make Trump’s visit memorable and boost his sagging popularity at his many controversial policies. A full range of security arrangements have been made employing more than 4,000 security personnel and elite paramilitary forces.

Mr. Trump has been promised an adoring crowd of 10 million flag waving locals from Ahmedabad which has a population of only 8 million!

Mr. Trump secretly envies Modi’s tight grip on society where free speech is nonexistent. Even innocent comments on Facebook can invoke Modi’s wrath and result in jail time. India’s culture of impunity exists for senior party officials facing charges of murder, rape and extortion. Such charges are routinely dismissed.

For example, charges of murder and kidnapping have long dogged Amit Shah, Mr. Modi’s closest confidant and India’s home minister, but the judge in his case mysteriously died soon after Mr. Modi became prime minister in 2014; the terrified succeeding judge promptly acquitted Mr. Shah.

Mr. Trump broad-brushing immigrants as “rapists and murderers” is similar to Mr. Shah’s denunciation of Muslim immigrants as “termites”. 

Outrage has accompanied Trump’s excessive cruelty separating children from their parents at the US-Mexico border, but a similar policy in the Kashmir Valley has been accompanied by a deafening silence. While Fox News usually provides unconditional support and cover for Trump’s bizarre behavior and utterances, Modi enjoys universal support from most T-V channels and newspapers collectively called “Modi’s toddies”. A few courageous reporters who criticize Modi receive unrelenting hostility and are quickly silenced. An autocrat’s paradise! 

India’s long tradition claiming to be a secular state has vanished. 

The heroes of India’s freedom movement and the universal messages of peace, tolerance and harmony of India’s great religious leaders have long been forgotten in the march towards tyranny and political sycophancy.