The folksy embrace has become a signature move for the Indian prime minister in greeting global leaders and celebrities alike. Photo / AP
The folksy embrace has become a signature move for the Indian prime minister in greeting global leaders and celebrities alike. Photo / AP
United States President Donald Trump should have been ready as he met with India's Prime Minister, an unabashed hugger.
Smiling widely at a news conference yesterday during a visit to Washington, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the President's outstretched arm not as an invitation for a handshake, but as a pull toward an embrace. Then he did it again in the White House Rose Garden. Then once more before leaving.
Modi is seen hugging various heads of state and VIPs. Photo / AP
Trump appeared stiff and uncomfortable with the first hug, smiling thinly and patting Modi on the back a couple of times. But it was the same folksy, effusive greeting Modi has used with Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, and a host of foreign dignitaries and celebrities, from former French President Francois Holland, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Hollywood's Hugh Jackman.
"Modi doesn't hug just anyone," said political scientist Sreeram Chaulia, dean of the Jindal School of International Affairs in New Delhi. "If you look at the list of people he's hugged, these are people who matter for India's interest."
Leaders and celebrities should be prepared for Modi's embrace by now, but they often aren't - sometimes nearly getting knocked off balance. Much like Trump's own see-saw style of shaking hands, analysts said the Modi hug has become a signature move, and is meant to be physical.
"Modi believes that trust can only be built through personal rapport and friendship, which includes positive body language and physical closeness with his counterparts," Chaulia said. "He may have been trying to maintain the bromance that he had with Obama."
There also may have been an element of relief in Modi's hugs of Trump, launched at the end of a two-day visit described as "cordial" by Indian aides.
Modi's hug with Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa. Photo / AP
"Some people were worried about the outcome ... in view of an unpredictable Trump," retired Indian diplomat Rajeev Dogra said. "But he has gone out of his way to reach out to India."
The fact that first lady Melania Trump was on hand, even though Modi was travelling without his wife, "was an important signal for India", Dogra said.
Indian strategic affairs experts hailed Modi's visit with Trump as a success, but cautioned that much would depend on how words were translated into action on trade and even terrorism that India says is emanating from Pakistani soil.
"To all appearances, the chemistry seems to have been quite good between Trump and Modi," said Rana Banerji, a retired intelligence officer in New Delhi. "At least President Trump did not do anything very unpredictable or seemingly unpalatable to the Indian side, though one doesn't know what subsequently would emerge."
Trump and Modi hug while making joint statement in the Rose Garden at the White House. Photo / AP
India's Foreign Ministry hailed the US State Department's move to list Pakistan-based Syed Salahuddin as a global terrorist for leading the Hizbul Mujahideen rebel group, which is fighting against Indian control in the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir.
The two countries also pledged to work together to try to end global terrorism, which India saw as a firm US commitment to increase its involvement in the region.
There were clear signs of division, though: There was no mention of climate change, an issue of extreme concern in India, where many of the country's 1.3 billion people are poor and vulnerable to extreme heat, drought and storm surges.
Trump also said little about the Asia-Pacific, though Modi made clear India's intent to increase co-operation in the region as a check against China's rising power.
