Ivanka is Trump card in dad’s outreach to India

WASHINGTON: Whether or not all of the 1,500 businesspeople attending the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) 2017 that opened in Hyderabad on Tuesday got a leg up, the governing dispensations in India and the US, represented by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald

Trump

’s daughter Ivanka, respectively, linked arms and gave each other a political boost.

In an accomplished keynote address that had none of her father’s rambling digressions, Ivanka Trump was effusive in her praise for Modi’s leadership, noting that “from your childhood selling tea to becoming prime minister, you’ve proven that transformational change is possible.” More acclaim for Modi followed, including approval for his “firm belief that the progress of humanity is incomplete without the empowerment of women ” and her expectation that the people of India “will continue to grow under the leadership of Prime Minister Modi”.

READ ALSO: After Diana, Ivanka Trump first woman to get red carpet

“India has a true friend in the White House,” the US President’s daughter, who is also his advisor, said in a clearly bilateral political message at an international event the two countries are co-hosting. Coming amid a fierce do-Modi Too Talks Up Ties With US At Biz Summit mestic political battle over the “chaiwala” nomenclature that his critics have used as a taunt, the laudatory reference to the PM’s past as a tea-seller delighted Modi acolytes. “Proud moment for India. @IvankaTrump publicly acknowledges the transformative changes under PM @narendramodi. Great to hear her appreciation for PM for his journey from a poor family to a popular world leader,” tweeted Ravi Shankar Prasad.

On his part, Modi too talked up bilateral relations, saying the GES 2017 event “not only connects Silicon Valley with Hyderabad but also showcases the close ties between the US and India.” Ivanka’s appearance with Modi at the opening of GES 2017 was preceded by a bilateral meeting the PM described as “wonderful”, before they went out to meet several entrepreneurs who had rolled out their work for presentation.

READ ALSO: Glitz, glam, hardselling & robotic oops moment

With the theme of the summit being ‘Women First, Prosperity For All’, India rolled out two of its most high-powered female politicians, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and defense minister Nirmala Sitharaman before Ivanka, a powerhouse who is herself expected to move on to higher office.

Wearing a green and yellow printed knee-length silk dress designed by Indian designer Neeta Lulla, Ivanka was polished and poised for the two hours she was before cameras and audience, showing no sign of jet lag through the event.

Although PM Narendra Modi’s clarion call to young entrepreneurs — “Come make in India… for India and for the world” — clashes with President Trump’s own Make America Great Again pitch, he has been assured by the Trump administration that the sentiments are not contradictory and there is space for both countries to grow.

As entrepreneurs, both Trump father and daughter are familiar with the global supply chain, notwithstanding their #MAGA push at home. In fact, they continue to court controversy at home because many of their products are made abroad, including in China and India. The scuttlebutt in Washington is that Ivanka could move to New York to take up Nikki Haley’s job as ambassador to the UN if the latter replaces Rex Tillerson — who is said to be in the White House doghouse — at the State Department.

READ ALSO: Ivanka Trump trumpets Nadella story to recall Hyd’s Silicon connect

But Ivanka left American domestic politics behind as she thanked the State Department — without mentioning Tillerson — for co-hosting the

GES2017

. India’s domestic politics, on the other hand, was never far away at the international business meet that also boosted the profile of Telengana state over its neighboring rivals, particularly Andhra and Karnataka.

And Ivanka’s implied credit to the Modi government for lifting 130 million people out of poverty irked former finance minister, P Chidambaram, who tweeted, “When Ivanka Trump said that India had lifted 130 million people out of poverty she was referring to the UPA government’s period of 2004 to 2014 (the number was 140 million)

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