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New Delhi: Former US National Security Adviser (NSA) John Bolton has said that President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a very good personal relationship but that "has gone now". He said that no world leaders can be protected from the "worst" even if they have close ties with the US President.
Bolton's remarks comes amid ongoing bilateral tension between India and the US, possibly the worst in two decades, over punitive tariff imposed on Indian goods and repeated criticism of New Delhi by the Trump administration.
"Trump had a very good relationship personally with Modi. I think that’s gone now, and it’s a lesson to everybody," he said in a recent interview with British media outlet LBC.
'White House set US-India ties back decades'
In a social media post, Bolton said that the White House has "set US-India relations back decades" and also pushed PM Modi closed to Russia and China. "Beijing has cast itself as an alternative to the US and Donald Trump," he added. He had earlier also cautioned that the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on India may have pushed New Delhi closer to the Beijing-Moscow axis, describing it as an "unforced error".
Bolton, who served as NSA in the first Trump administration, said the US President views foreign ties through the lens of his personal relations with the leaders of other countries but "that's not the case". The former US official has been very critical of his former boss.
"I think Trump sees international relations through the prism of his personal relations with leaders. So if he has a good relationship with Vladimir Putin, the US has a good relationship with Russia. That's obviously not the case," he said.
India-US ties under strain
Ties between India and the US has turned sour over Trump administration's decision to impose 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods, to "punish" New Delhi's for its reluctancy to pause Russian oil purchases. The US has alleged that India is indirectly fuelling Russia's war in Ukraine by purchasing oil from Moscow, a charge dismissed by New Delhi.
