PM Modi’s phone conversation with Donald Trump after G7 Summit: 7 Reasons why it was a masterclass in power and poise
On the morning of June 18, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri shared a press statement detailing the phone conversation between PM Modi and US President Donald Trump.
U.S. President Trump had to leave the G7 Summit early, so the scheduled meeting between Prime Minister Modi and US President Trump could not take place. US President Trump and Prime Minister Modi had a formal phone call at the former’s request. The discussion lasted for over 35 minutes, Vikram Misri stated.
This phone conversation is significant for many reasons, not just for the content of the discussion but also for its timing and messaging. Here is why:
It was the first time the two global leaders spoke after the Pahalgam attack
Vikram misri stated that in the phone call was the first time the two leaders spoke since the April 22 Pahalgam attack, where US President expressed condolences for victims and conveyed that USA supports India’s stand against terrorism. This is a significant point in itself because due to the boastful media statements made by the US president, it was insinuated as if there has been more talks between the US and Indian leadership. This was implied multiple times by Donald Trump where he kept claiming that he used trade as a leverage to make India ‘talk’ with Pakistan and ‘agree’ to a ceasefire.
By highlighting that it was the first time Donald Trump and PM Modi spoke directly after the Pahalgam attack, Vikram Misri made it clear once again that the claims of Trump being the key ‘peacemaker’ were false and misleading.
PM Modi reiterates ‘Goli will be answered with Gola’,
In the phone call, PM Modi reminded Trump that India had made it clear to the whole world that it will take significant retaliatiory action for the Pahalgam attack. PM Modi told Trump that India’s Operation Sindoor on the nights of 6-7 May was measured, non-escalatory and precision strikes against terror infrastructures located in PoK and Pakistan. He also told Trump that India has and will respond to any escalatory actions by Pakistan in a bigger manner, and that ‘Goli will be responded with Gola’.
PM Modi’s statement displays the calm conviction of a new India under his leadership, an India that does not depend on foreign powers to tell it what to do and how to respond, but retaliates with conviction to target the enemy and takes punitive military measures against any attacks on its sovereignty and safety.
JD Vance called PM Modi to warn about ‘big attack’ from Pakistan, was told that India will respond with a bigger attack
During the phone conversation, PM Modi also told Trump that after the first phase of India’s Operation Sindoor, on the night of May 9, US Vice President JD Vance called PM Modi to warn about a ‘big attack’ from Pakistan. The US vice president was communicated by India in very clear terms that India would retaliate in a bigger, stronger manner to any escalation from Pakistan.
India did exactly that, PM Modi told Trump, mentioning how India’s retaliatory strikes against Pakistan’s escalation hit military targest with precision and obliterated much of their air defence, establishing complete air dominance. Pakistan’s air bases were rendered inoperable by India’s air strikes. Following which, a battered Pakistan had to request a ceasefire from India.
Nowhere was a trade deal discussed: PM Modi reminds Trump
PM Modi reminded US President Trump that at no point in the discussion with Pakistani military leadership, and US leadership, trade with USA was even mentioned. He even mentioned that at no point India discussed ‘mediation’ with US leadership because India will never accept third-party mediation in bilateral issues with Pakistan and there is complete political consensus in India about the issue. PM Modi reiterated to Trump that all discussions about a halt in the military operation were held through the established military channels between India and Pakistan and no other country, and no trade deal was ever a part of these discussions.
PM Modi also told Donald Trump that Operation Sindoor is not over yet. He also reminded the US President that India will now treat any acts of terrorism as acts of war.
Modi declines Trump’s invitation for a stopover meeting in USA
In a bold and strategically significant move, PM Modi declined Trump’s invitation for a stopover in the USA on his return journey from Canada to India. PM Modi reportedly told Trump that he has scheduled engagements and commitments, and a stopover would not be possible.
The polite refusal is a powerful statement by PM Modi. Without uttering the words, he has subtly communicated to the USA that India is no longer a ‘minor country’ whose leaders would be flocking for a meeting with heads of bigger nations. PM Modi’s polite refusal for a stopover also communicates India’s priorities and power projection in today’s world.
Was Trump trying to ‘trap’ PM Modi in an attempt to show that he is hosting India and Pakistan together?
The timing of the stopover request is crucial here. Pakistan’s Army chief Asim Munir is currently in the USA, trying to get invited to ‘important’ events so he gets a one-on-one meeting with Donald Trump. Munir, who is the de-facto leader in Pakistan, is on a 5-day visit to the USA. He arrived on June 15. So it is quite clear that the ‘stopover’ that Trump requested to PM Modi, was to coincide with Munir’s prolonged stay.
Seeing the way the US President has been behaving with respect to India and Pakistan, prioritising his PR and personal glorification with the false claims of brokering a ceasefire, even going so far as to claim that he “stopped” a potential nuclear war, it would have been unsurprising to see him trying to have PM Modi and Asim Munir in the same room, or worse, at the same table.
By refusing a stopover visit to the USA, PM Modi has very smoothly avoided this trap, thus denying Trump the gratification of another massive personal PR campaign, and Munir an enormous image-saver to justify his existence. PM Modi has silently conveyed to both of them that India won’t be fooled into gimmicks and PR games. India won’t gratify useless stunts, and India won’t waste its time on vacuous posturings by vain leaders trying to project their importance.
After days of Munir being in the USA, reports have emerged today that Trump may finally meet him. Juxtaposing it with his request to PM Modi to stop in the USA for a meeting on his way back from the G7 Summit, one cannot shake away the thought that he might have been thinking to ‘use’ Munir’s current presence and orchestrate a Modi meeting to try and manufacture the biggest PR statement in his current term, to further project his self-fuelled claims of ‘peacemaker’.
Judging by Trump’s claims and boastfulness, it would not be too speculative to think he would have used the images of Modi and Munir being in the same room to claim he has stopped a potential ‘nuclear war’.
India and Pakistan are not equals, the USA, and the whole world needs to remember that
PM Modi’s phone conversation has conveyed a lot of things, and the most important message has been conveyed silently here. By declining Trump the gratification of hosting the leaders of India and Pakistan together, PM Modi has conveyed that India and Pakistan are not equals. That the world’s fourth largest economy with one of the strongest, most advanced military and a stable democratic government, won’t be hyphenated with a broken, terror-infested, unstable and poverty-stricken swamp of a landmass called Pakistan.
“India is here to stay. It is a multi-polar world, and India is one of the poles that will make its own rules and chart its own path. Ignoring and miscalculating India will be a mistake”, This is what PM Modi has managed to convey in a phone call during his return journey from the G7 Summit in Canada.
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