Bangladesh is replacing India with its biggest rivals

For 15 years, Dhaka was India's closest friend in Asia

But Muhammad Yunus is now rapidly improving ties with Pakistan and China

🧵on why India is worried about Bangladesh Ever since the fall of Sheikh Hasina's govt in Bangladesh, India has been faced with a problem

Bangladesh's interim govt - led by economist Muhammad Yunus - has pushed for closer ties with Pakistan

Here's just a short list of what both countries have done together

India has a key diplomatic tool to help its geopolitical rise

They call it "disaster diplomacy"

India uses it to help friends and even rivals like Pakistan fight natural disasters

🧵as India sends aid to Myanmar Today, India began an operation to supply humanitarian relief to Myanmar after an earthquake killed over 1000 people

Operation Brahma is simply the latest in a string of global disaster relief ops

Over 20 years, India has developed a unique ability to respond to these crises

India's most valuable strategic project is stuck

20 years ago, India started building a highway to connect Asia and counter China

But a brutal conflict is standing in India's way

🧵on this story This project is the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway

The idea was first proposed back in 2002

The plan was for a 1360 km highway to link Moreh in India's Manipur to Thailand's Mae Sot

Existing road networks could then connect India to Vietnam and all of SE Asia

India and America fought a secret war together

Their spies spent years destroying one enemy

That enemy was Communism in India

🧵on this battle This story begins in 1957

In that year, the Communist Party of India won a stunning victory

It defeated the ruling Congress Party in Kerala's state election

The CPI then formed the first non Congress govt in any part of India since 1947

Pakistan's Gwadar Port was meant to be a nightmare for India

China wanted to use the port to counter India's navy

BUT, this strategic asset in Balochistan is now in chaos

🧵 Gwadar was once just a small fishing village

Located in Balochistan, Gwadar belonged to the Sultanate of Oman

In 1954, a US geological survey found that Gwadar was suitable for a deep-water port

In 1958, Pakistan purchased it from Oman for $3 million

India has a secret defence project in the Indian Ocean

New Delhi has refused to talk about it for 10 years

But some say India is building a vital military base against China

🧵on this story Agalega is a remote island, located in the Southwest Indian Ocean, that is part of Mauritius

The island is home to 300 people

Experts believe the island is strategically located

It is close to the Mozambique channel, a key maritime route for commercial ships & oil tankers

I just interviewed one of India's most experienced diplomats

His big take: India got the Ukraine war totally right

Here's why🧵 Yesterday, I interviewed Ambassador Pankaj Saran (@PankajSaran11)

Amb. Saran served as India's envoy to Russia and as Deputy NSA until December 2021

We talked about India, its position on the Ukraine War and the US-Russia talks on ending the conflict

Here's what he told me

India once dreamed of dominating Asia

India's military would police the oceans from West Asia to Singapore

But that ambitious dream failed

Here's why🧵 In 1946, Jawaharlal Nehru was contemplating the role an independent India would play on the world stage

World War II had just ended and Britain's rule in India was coming to an end

Nehru's vision for India was grand

"India is the centre of security in Asia," he wrote

It's been a busy week for Indian diplomacy

- Donald Trump shakes up Indian politics

- S Jaishankar's major meeting with China

- Big US-Russia talks to end the Ukraine war

🧵on the top 5 stories for India this week👇 1⃣. Trump and USAID

Donald Trump has sparked a major controversy in Indian politics

For some time, questions have grown around a grant of $21 million given by the US govt for "voter turnout" in India

Trump hinted that the money was being used to interfere in Indian politics

America's deep state is interfering in Indian politics

That is the accusation made directly by India's BJP

But the real story is more complicated

🧵on the USAID controversy Here are the facts

Yesterday, America's Department of Govt Efficiency announced it would be cutting funding for a group known as the "Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening"

This included stopping $21 million given for "boosting voter turnout" in India

Donald Trump is the world's most unpredictable leader

But India believes it knows how to handle Trump

🧵on India's Trump strategy Donald Trump can be a difficult leader to handle

But India has had a solid relationship with him for years

Under Trump, America became India's largest trade partner

Several billion dollar defence deals were signed

And the two nations worked closely on challenges like China

You're probably waking up to the big Trump-Modi meeting

Here are the headlines and the big wins for India🧵 So let's start off with what India got out of the meeting with Trump

1⃣. Tahawwur Rana

The new Trump administration has agreed to clear the extradition of Tahawwur Rana, the planner behind the 26/11 attacks

India has been pushing for his extradition from America for years now

The big Modi-Macron summit in France is over

The agenda: nuclear power, rocket launchers and missiles

Here's what India got from Modi's visit in 10 tweets🧵 1⃣. Defence Sales

This was one of the big takeaways from the Modi-Macron meeting

India offered France its Pinaka multi-barrel rocket launchers

The Pinaka was developed by the DRDO for the Indian Army

India's govt changed defence policy to benefit Adani, says a new report

These changes allowed Adani to construct an energy park near the border with Pakistan

Military officers worry it could hurt India's defences

🧵on this new report Please remember that I'm neither endorsing nor dismissing this report

Today, a report appeared in the Guardian by @HannahEP and @ravinair

It claims India's govt changed border security protocols to allow the Adani Group to build a renewable energy park near the Pakistan border

India once spied on America with a powerful Western ally

The two countries tracked America's military using a secret spy network

India's partner in this operation: France

🧵on this story During the 1970s, India's RAW set up a secret coalition to spy on the US Navy in the Indian Ocean

India wanted to work with two US allies - Iran and France - to collect this intelligence

It was a sensitive project that was first thought of by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi

PM Modi wants you to read a book by a former CIA officer

It tells the story of how India asked America to join a war against China

🧵on this book PM Modi recommended former CIA officer Bruce Riedel's "JFK's Forgotten Crisis" in Parliament today

This was part of a speech attacking the opposition for its criticism of the govt's foreign policy

Why did he do that?

Well, the quick reason is👇

https://x.com/kanchangupta/status/1886760533854175671?s=48

India secretly bribed Asia's most powerful royal family

The top levels of India's govt were involved in this operation

A senior spy revealed the truth only years later

🧵on Operation Casino In 2008, former Research and Analysis Wing Chief K Sankaran Nair released his autobiography

Nair had been one of RAW's founders and its second ever chief

Along with RN Kao, he was considered one of India's finest spies

In his memoirs, he told the story of a forgotten operation

India wants to be a global power

BUT it has one big problem

India's Foreign Ministry is too small and too broke

And Budget 2025 makes it even poorer

🧵 So let's get into it

In the 2025 Budget, India's Ministry of External Affairs received an allocation of roughly 20,000 crore rupees

That was roughly 0.4% of the total 2025 Budget

Now that isn't too bad and is similar to ministries like Power, Electronics and Labour

China once asked India for help with a dangerous case

Foreign agents were trying to kill China's Prime Minister

India sent its most famous spy to find out the truth

🧵on this spy story In 1955, PM Jawaharlal Nehru authorised a young Indian spy to investigate a major case

An Indian Airlines plane had just been blown up in order to kill China's Premier Zhou Enlai

China accused Taiwan and America of this plot

With global tensions rising, Nehru turned to RN Kao

Republic Day chief guests are the world's most important leaders

And there's a hidden reason why India chooses each of them

Here are the 10 most interesting of the last 75 years🧵 1⃣. President Sukarno, 1950

Indonesia's President Sukarno was India's first ever Chief Guest at Republic Day

He was a strong anti colonialist and admirer of India's freedom struggle

Just 3 years before this, India had evacuated Sukarno to help him escape the Dutch Empire

Donald Trump is back as U.S. President

Here's what that means for us in India🧵 Donald Trump has taken office as America's 47th President

Let's take a look at his policies on India

Starting with the good news