When people talk about India, they quote Chanakya. China is always clubbed with Sun Tzu. Many other nations are clubbed in a similar fashion and assumed to follow the philosophy of these great thinkers and strategists born on their soil.
This was fine till 100 years back when these teachings were restricted to a certain region. Not anymore.
There are more books analysing the work of these greats all over the world than their own work in their original countries. There is nothing hidden anymore.
What Sun Tzu said is well known to US and India as much as to China. No one has stopped anyone from following anyone and neither can one link the strategic thinking of a nation to any one person. So Sun Tzu and Chanakya have a global reach and a mix and match of their work must be followed by many nations.
At this time Indo-US relations seem to be at a low. Indian government could have done better in this regard. Chanakya or no Chanakya.
What they have done very well, is to not capitulate under pressure. I am sure that Trump and his team didn’t see that coming. The way EU and many other powerful nations buckled was surprising. Infact the higher tariffs have forced Indian traders to learn not keep all the eggs in one basket and be a little diversified. That seems to be already showing good results in many sectors.
Moreover, there has been announcements of record FDI coming to India from US. The additional 25% hasn’t turned out as disastrous as envisioned by many.
These tariffs were a great opportunity for Pakistan to replace India in many fields. Has that happened? Pakistani friends may be able to throw some light on this. And no jingoism please. Just the facts.
Every other day Trump makes a flame bait announcement about Modi. Modi hasn’t fallen into that trap and stayed rooted. Many people call this a weakness. It is not. It is being dignified and measured against a powerful and temperamental world leader. Modi is doing the do and not talking.
I would wait for the Trade Deal to happen and then assess how Modi did. As of now, he seems to be doing OK.
