“Respect for each other’s concerns”: Modi pays in the same coin while replying to Trudeau’s congratulatory, but sarcastic tweet

As Narendra Modi took over as the Prime Minister of India for the third time a in a row, congratulatory messages poured in from all over the world.

While these messages are generally diplomatic and nothing more should be read from these messages, some messages, however, raise eyebrows because they are bitter messages with a sugarcoat of diplomacy.

One such message came from the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. He wrote, “Congratulations to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his electoral victory. Canada stands ready to work with his government to advance the relationship between our nations’ peoples—anchored to human rights, diversity, and the rule of law” on June 6.

This message could have been a simple congratulatory message with a hint of desire to work together for the betterment of the people of two nations. However the mention of ‘Rule of Law’, ‘Human Rights’ or ‘Diversity’ in the message reeked of the hypocritic alignment of Justin.

The Canadian authorities looked away when separatists publicly burnt and shot the effigy of an ex Indian Prime Minister or openly threatened to kill Indian diplomats in Canada.

Reading between the lines, PM Modi minced no words while wording his reply. His reply was curt, did not mention Trudeau by his name and addressed it to Canadian Prime Minister instead, emphasizing on “mutual understanding and respect for each others concerns.”

‘Respect for each others concerns’ was a strong message that Modi conveyed in backdrop of Canadian support and protection to the separatists targeting India in the recent past and in general.

Normally PM Modi is quick to reply to his counterparts from across the world, but look at the timeline here. Trudeau wrote the message to Modi on June 6 and Modi chose to reply after four days on June 10.

Another such message was from the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shehbaz Sharif who initially hesitated to congratulate, but finally after almost a week, fearing international isolation, decided to write “Felicitations to @narendramodi on taking oath as the Prime Minister of India”. PM Modi replied with an equally short message, “Thank you @cmshehbaz for your good wishes.

The message to the world is loud and clear, if you want to engage with India, red carpet is laid for you, but if you want to push India around, like you are used to doing, you will be pushed back with a greater force and resolve.