‘Namaste Trump’ is the new buzzword in Ahmedabad and the city has gripped itself in a makeover to showcase its best face to welcome the POTUS Donald Trump.

Ahmedabad is by no means another city and Sabaramati river front knows how much water has flown under the bridge in last few years and then Agra will see the most powerful man visit the  monument of love ‘Taj Mahal’.

The visits of US president have historically been used to show the strength of relations between a most powerful democracy and the most populated democratic nation.

The current visit of the big man is seen by many as personal, political or by all means a way to capture the Indian voters in the forthcoming presidential elections in the United States.

As the opposition raises its voice, one should go back to history and see what recent visits of respective US presidents has achieved for India.

The Cold War era meant, India had to walk a tight rope of non-aligned countries. It was with charming icon of Ronald Reagan that an Indian Prime Minister in Rajiv Gandhi caught the glimpse of young India making its presence felt in the US of A.

The senior Bush and almost the entire tenure of Bill Clinton saw a status quo relationship with India and with no majority government and policy paralysis at the centre, India lost an opportunity to build the relation with the powerful nation.

Clinton chose Hyderabad over Bangalore and had its own share of the opposition in terms of the venue. However the visit was a perfect launch of India as an IT hub which even today generates huge revenues for the nation.

By all means, it was Manmohan Singh, who had the guts  to openly accept the relationship with the US. The junior Bush and Obama played the perfect counterparts which ultimately broke the ice between the two nations.

NaMo has taken the relationship to a new level where both partners stand tall and equal.

Keeping the Presidents away from formal relationships in the past meant, our neighbours had an opportunity to get closer to the US and getting immensely benefitted in terms of financial and defence surge.

With 1.3 billion people as a base, India stands as one of the biggest market of the globe.

The future of relationships is directly correlated to market whether its defence, jobs, technology, medical sciences or human to human connect. Modi has identified this pulse and with such a large canvas available to global players, India has the key to a better future and it does not need to run behind the superpowers. The mutual relationship will benefit the country in the long run.

The time is perfectly ripe for India to play to its advantage rather than getting engulfed in controversies and play to its full potential.

How the future course of country changes will primarily depend on how we exploit the situation to our advantage.

Image Courtesy: Dainik Bhaskar

Disclaimer: The article is a self expression looking at the visits of previous POTUS to India and does not intend to make any comment on political vision of an individual or a party.