Twenty-five years ago, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government coined the phrase “natural allies" to describe the Indo-US relationship. The catchy coinage, used in joint declarations, signalled to the West that India was overcoming its almost endemic post-colonial mistrust of, if not Western, then at least, American dominance. In the ensuing years, the “natural allies" would become “strategic partners". Locked in a diplomatic tango, they would tear up the metaphorical dance floor. Some, so taken by this dalliance between democracies, would urge that New Delhi should shed its inhibitions and enter America’s boudoir of strategic intimacy. Even if it meant surrendering strategic........

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