Modi was denied visa by US for about a decade right up to when he won absolute majority in 2014. Then US President, Obama, in whose regime, Modi was blacklisted called him and invited him to US. He accepted right away & almost took the next available flight to US.
In one of his pressers/interviews Modi pretended much more familiarity with Obama than he already had. He referred to him as Barack, which Obama did not reciprocate. The excessive eagerness to please was unbecoming of the stature of PM of world’s largest democracy.
Contrast Modi’s taking the knee to US with how Indira Gandhi looked Nixon and premiers of all European countries in the eye and acted independently against East Pakistan. Possible Modi suffers from an inferiority complex that Indira did not.
The India that Modi inherited was economically & militarily stronger than the India under Indira. Therefore not sure how to explain the contrast between Modi & Indira.
Incidentally, Indira had spent several years in her childhood in France, subsequently several years in her youth in England. She was fluent in French and of course English. Possible this exposure removed any awe of the West.
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