Donald Trumps India with win, MEA to tread softly on H1B path

The failure of New Delhi to grasp the seriousness of Trump’s campaign promises has left its strategy in disarray.
The US President’s policy of protectionism may adversely impact the Indian IT sector
The US President’s policy of protectionism may adversely impact the Indian IT sector

NEW DELHI: India does not have much in its repertoire of foreign policy responses in case the H1B visa reforms bill is passed in the US. New Delhi’s alignment with the Obama administration and failure to grasp the seriousness of Donald Trump’s pre-election promises has left its response strategy in disarray.

The watcher of the Indo-US relations see that the Indian diplomats’ inability to read the political developments in the US election that culminated with Trump’s victory and misreading his team’s agenda as mere pre-poll gimmicks. “It seems the MEA (Ministry of External Affairs) did not see the H1B visa fiasco coming. It did not realise Trump was coming to power and what after he comes to power,” a government source said.

Now the Trump administration’s policy of protectionism stands to adversely impact the Indian IT sector, but all the MEA is doing is wait and watch. “Three private bills have been introduced in the US House of Representatives. So let us not pre-judge the outcome because we have seen what has happened to similar bills in the past. If and when an Executive Order is passed, we will certainly give our reaction,” MEA Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

Credible sources with the government indicate that “New Delhi had gone too far to accommodate the Democrats—the Team Obama.” This translated into the fact that Delhi took a long time to open communication channels with the Trump team. “In diplomacy one cannot be seen too close to one of the stakeholders. The fallout is that we do not have concrete response to what will happen if the visa revamping bill is passed,” a former foreign secretary said.

In the present world order India has put a lot at stake to come closer to the US. It has forgone the “exclusivity” of its relation with Russia that has for the first time started engaging with Pakistan militarily. It aligned itself with Obama’s “Pivot to Asia” policy and positioned itself as counter-balance to China. In case US President Donald Trump decides to withdraw his country from the strategic alliance, India will be left in the lurch.

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