Trump Jr's map showed India in blue, anti-Republican. Why are Modi men mum?

Map released by Donald Trump Jr on Nov 3, election day

By Haider Abbas*

These may be dying moments of US elections, as ‘war of attrition’ between US president Donald Trump and Joseph Biden is turning out to be, as predicted, a nail biter, with Trump having declared that the ‘transfer of power’ would not be smooth, if he loses. But recent Trump moves suggest what would be the Republican policy towards India in the coming future.
Recently, Trump forced India to sign the Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) with the aim of countering China. This came amidst a survey, which said that 72% of Indian American would be voting for Trump’s rival, Biden. Biden’s vice-presidential nominee is Kamala Harris, who is of Indian origin, and in case of any eventuality (i.e. if Biden dies or has to step down), then the obvious step would be an Indian making to the presidential post.
Did all all this enrage Trump? It would seem so. Thus, on the election day, November 3, Trump Jr released a world map, with ‘red’ being the nations in support of US and ‘blue’ being opposed to it. Mexico, China and India were shown in ‘blue’. To add more smirk into it, Trump Jr showed Kashmir as an intendment nation of both India and Pakistan.
This leaves a big question to all the lovelorn politics of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was in US campaigning for Trump with ‘Howdy Modi’ in Houston in September 2019, shortly after he annulled the special status of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) under Article 370, followed the ‘Namaste-Trump’ visit of Trump to Modi’s home state, Gujarat, in February 2020, to mobilise Indian voters towards Trump. All this, apparently, has turned into a damp squib!
Intriguingly, when the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) released a 20 Riyal Banknote on October 24, 2020, to celebrate being host to the G20 Summit, it was without Gilgit-Baltistan and Pak-occupied Kashmir (PoK) as part of Pakistan.
But for India it had a different implication: The map showed Kashmir to be an independent country. While Pakistan could not even register a squeamish response, India protested as recently as on October 29, 2020. India made it clear, the banknote was a “distortion” of the Indian map.
Interestingly, the same world was used by Donald Trump Jr – that too on the election day. His tweet which carried the map said, "Okay, finally got around to making my electoral map prediction. #2020Election #VOTE."

The Saudi banknote omits J&K and Ladakh from Indian territory

India, which is facing one of the worst war threats from China and Pakistan, appears to have been left in a quandary on how to respond to the move. Analysts wonder, what exactly has Modi got after all these years of his bonhomie with Trump. The Trump Jr map shows Pakistan in ‘red’, meaning ‘in support of Trump Sr’!

Will Modi or his battery of ministers make India register the same response with the Republicans, as it did with KSA, which decided to annul Kashmir from the India map? There is reason to believe: KSA’s move was dictated by the Republican policy makers, still ruling the country.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has announced it is making Gilgit-Baltistan its fifth province, on the lines suggested by China, as it is China’s gateway to its lifeline project, China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). It wasn’t without reason that, when India had started airing Gilgit-Baltistan weather report on May 9, 2020, there was backlash from China in Ladakh, in which India lost its 20 soldiers on June 15, 2020, as China perceived the Indian move anti-CPEC.
The latest move from Trump Jr throws back the obvious cardinal question: Has Pakistan already “sold-off” its side of Kashmir? And what would now be the Indian policy vis-a-vis Republicans, who seem to be wanting to make Kashmir into a sovereign nation, so that US could fulfill its “dream” of turning it into its military base to thwart China in times to come?
Significantly, al this is happening at a time when India has in the middle already lost its 70-years-old friend, Russia. If Trump loses, Trump Jr’s move will be a constant ‘reminder’ of the Republican position on Kashmir, which perhaps Democrats would find it too hard to put into favour of India.
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Former State Information Commissioner, media analyst and writes on international politics

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