President Trump mocks the Indian prime minister’s accent during security briefings, it has been alleged, days before the pair are due to meet at the Davos summit.
The Indian press has picked up on a Washington Post report that said: “Senior administration officials said that the president has been known to affect an Indian accent and imitate Indian prime minister Narendra Modi.”
Mr Trump is said to have echoed the phrase Mr Modi used during a meeting in the Oval Office last year, “never has a country given so much away for so little in return as the United States in Afghanistan”, at security briefings while putting on an Indian accent.
“To Trump, Modi’s statement was proof that the rest of the world viewed the United States as being duped and taken advantage of in Afghanistan,” the article said.
Reaction in India has been divided over whether Mr Trump, who is known to hold Mr Modi in high regard both as a leader in south Asia and as a “true friend”, was being offensive or affectionate when imitating the Indian leader.
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The pair are generally known to have a close relationship, often making admiring statements about how they each respectively reached their positions, with Mr Modi having been a former tea seller who managed to enter politics and Mr Trump having come in as an outsider from the world of business.
Mr Modi is the first Indian leader in 20 years to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos and is accompanied by the largest delegation the country has sent, with 129 members. The Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan was given the Crystal Award by the forum yesterday for his work in women’s and children’ rights.
The prime minister is to deliver the opening keynote address and is promoting the slogan “India means business”, as the country tries to attract foreign investors especially in the technology sector.
Mr Trump is due to arrive on Thursday and will be the first American president to attend in two decades. The pair will undoubtedly meet at some point during the summit but it remains to be seen how warm the greeting will be.