Trump Roars. Modi Smiles. India Waits.

 Donald Trump is back doing what he does best — throwing tantrums in prime time and calling it policy. His latest target? India. From parading deported Indian immigrants in chains — yes, actual chains, mid-flight — to snatching credit for ending Operation Sindoor, Trump’s message is simple: “I’m the boss of Vishwaguru.” He’s slapped tariffs on Indian goods, frowned upon Russian oil imports, and hiked H1B visa fees — a direct jab at the Indian tech class.

And New Delhi’s response? Silence. The kind that pretends to be strength but smells suspiciously like fear. Spin doctors call it strategic restraint. The rest of us call it waiting for Trump’s next mood swing.

When Trump wished Modi on his 75th birthday or extended his velvet glove, BJP’s online cheerleaders pounced on it like a Bollywood twist — “See! Friendship restored!” — until, of course, Trump’s next tweet arrived with his usual thunder. As the American columnist Ashley Tellis politely put it, India’s “extreme discipline in messaging” might just be a way to survive the Trump presidency until, hopefully, saner minds return to Washington.

Fair enough. You don’t argue with the man who still thinks Covfefe was a word. But silence, while occasionally golden, can also be a policy vacuum dressed as wisdom.

After Trump raised H1B visa fees, hitting Indian engineers hardest, the BJP’s propaganda brigade went into overdrive. “This is a blessing in disguise!” they screamed. “Now our talent will stay home!”

Of course. And next week, the Yamuna will run clear and Bengaluru traffic will move at the speed of thought. Talent doesn’t stay where it’s not respected. You can’t charm a coder with slogans or retain a scientist with moral lectures. You need vision, infrastructure, and dignity.

Look around:

• Britain has a High Potential Visa for global graduates.
• The Gulf offers permanent residencies to skilled professionals.
• Singapore keeps polishing its global talent programme.
• Even China, not exactly the land of freedom, is easing its doors for foreign experts.

Their message: “We want the best. We’ll make it worth your while.”

India’s counter-offer? Another grand-sounding — the GATI Foundation (Global Access to Talent from India) inaugurated by no less than the External Affairs Minister— and the usual speech about being the “next Silicon Valley or Atmnirbhar Bharat”, whatever suitable to the audience. One is tempted to quote Oscar Wilde here:

“We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.”
Unfortunately, India’s leadership seems to be staring at the camera instead.

Let’s not romanticize the past, but give credit where it’s due. Nehru’s India had a plan. He built IITs, IIMs, the Atomic Energy Commission. He told the nation’s brightest minds: “Come home. Build. We’ll back you.”

And they did. Homi Bhabha, Vikram Sarabhai, V.K. Krishna Menon — giants who could’ve stayed abroad but chose to build a new India.

Fast forward to Modi’s India: the promise has been replaced by posturing. Instead of nurturing credible intellectual voices, we get a parade of media-savvy talking heads who mistake Twitter threads for policy and podcasts for research. The government’s celebration of certain “thought leaders” — take Shamika Ravi, who has become more visible than valuable — is symptomatic. She generates headlines but not scholarship, television clips but not peer-reviewed ideas. In any serious intellectual economy, the test is whether your work changes practice, not whether you can trend on social media. India today confuses chatter with substance. The result: serious scholars stay away, and the talent pool shrinks.

The government seems convinced that slogans like “Digital India” and “Make in India” are enough to woo global talent. But professionals aren’t swayed by hashtags. They want predictability, clean air, and fair play. They ask:

• Will my children breathe without a mask?
• Will contracts be honoured without jugaad?
• Will my art survive the next wave of moral outrage?

If the answers sound like “maybe,” they’ll pack for Toronto or Berlin before your next Mann Ki Baat. Global talent, like global capital, follows logic — not sentiment.

And if saying this sounds “anti-national,” perhaps it’s time to reread Tagore:

“Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high — into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”

Sadly, many of India’s brightest heads are being held high in foreign airports — holding boarding passes, not flags.

India’s defenders will argue — and not without reason — that our foreign policy options are limited. Russia’s too busy playing empire, China’s already holding hands with Pakistan, and the U.S., despite Trump’s tantrums, still needs India as a counterweight.

So, yes, we can’t afford open confrontation. But that doesn’t justify paralysis. The world’s largest democracy cannot act like a colony waiting for the empire’s next command.

So yes, Ashley Tellis is right — confronting America head-on makes no sense. But what’s the point of being the world’s largest democracy if your only strategy is to wait for the storm to pass? As Churchill once said,

“Kites rise highest against the wind — not with it.”

If Modi Sarkar wants to ride out Trump’s tantrums, it must pair silence with strategy, and slogans with substance. Otherwise, we’ll keep producing geniuses — only for them to fuel someone else’s Silicon Valley, someone else’s space race, and someone else’s dream.

Because here’s the uncomfortable truth:
India isn’t short of talent. It’s short of respect for talent.

Don't just read, engage! Leave a comment and hit that subscribe button. 

https://www.business-standard.com/opinion/columns/race-for-talent-slipping-away-as-h-1b-visa-fee-hikes-hit-india-s-prospects-125093001436_1.html

https://www.deccanchronicle.com/opinion/columnists/dev-360-does-india-need-a-rethink-of-its-talent-strategy-now-patralekha-chatterjee-1907014