The West is stumped. The images from Tianjin tell a story that Washington never saw coming. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, flanked by Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, sharing warm laughter and strategic whispers at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit. In Donald Trump’s desperation to project himself as a strongman to his MAGA base, the United States has alienated its most critical partner in the Indo-Pacific. For a White House that believed it could bully India into submission with unprecedented 50% tariffs, the visuals from China must have been jarring. Needless to say, PM Modi walking hand-in-hand with Putin and having a frank exchange with Xi Jinping have conveyed a message Donald Trump cannot possibly fathom: India has strategic options other than the United States.

When Donald Trump’s administration slapped crushing tariffs on Indian goods and demanded New Delhi halt Russian oil purchases, it fundamentally misread India’s character. Trump and company expected capitulation from what Peter Navarro dismissively called “profiteering Brahmins". Instead, they got Modi refusing four consecutive phone calls from the President himself. Each ignored ring was a message louder than any diplomatic protest: India’s sovereignty isn’t negotiable.

Modi’s calculated silence speaks volumes about India’s evolved approach to great power politics. Unlike previous eras when developing nations scrambled for superpower approval, India under Modi has demonstrated that dignified resistance is not only possible but necessary. When Trump claimed credit for mediating India-Pakistan tensions and hinted at a Nobel Prize nomination, Modi’s response was swift and unambiguous: India has never accepted mediation and never will. That June phone call marked the beginning of........

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