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In 2012, when he was still the Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi mocked the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as “Maunmohan” Singh, accusing him of being silent on the issues of the day, including the serious corruption charges against the UPA government.

What would the Modi of 2012 say about himself now? 

For a politician who is never lost for words while launching scathing attacks on opposition leaders or belittling opponents at election rallies, Prime Minister Modi has shown himself to be tongue-tied on every pressing national issue that is going badly for him, as if remaining silent would make it disappear or at least distance him from it.

Just in the last year, his silence on the repeated humiliation of India by the US president, his “friend” Donald Trump, and the unravelling of a celebrated partnership between two great democracies must be distressing for those who believed the PM was a bold and courageous world statesman who could look any world power in the eye and would never let Indians down. Some of his cheerleaders call this “strategic silence”.

The latest demonstration of this came at the G7 summit in Evian, France, where he attended the outreach session, to which India has been invited since 2005. It was days after the killing of three Indian seafarers when a US fighter jet bombed their ship, the MT Setebello. with Hellfire missiles in the Gulf of Oman on the intervening night of June 9 and 10. India was waiting to see what he would say to President Trump when he met him there.

The attack on the Setebello came a day after the US hit another ship carrying Indian seafarers, the MT Marivex. A day after the Setebello incident, another ship carrying Indian seafarers, MT Jalveer, was also targeted by the US military. The three victims on the Setebello were first declared missing, and their deaths were confirmed a day later. No casualties occurred aboard the other two ships.

The reluctance to confront the US was apparent from the beginning. After the hit on the Marivex, the Ministry of External Affairs spokesman offered a statement that appeared eager to draw a line under the incident. The ship had been “disabled” off the coast of........

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