US analyst uses Hindi expletive to slam Trump

The TOI correspondent from Washington: A prominent American analyst on South Asia called US President Donald Trump a "ch**ya" on live television, causing a meltdown over form and propriety in the age of social media.

Georgetown University professor Christine Fair, whose acknowledged scholarship is sometimes laced with profanity, was speaking about deteriorating ties between US and India to a Pakistani channel when she lamented about it being only six months into the Trump presidency and "we have four years of this ch**ya" remaining.


As the Pakistani host burst out laughing and recalled objections from viewers to his own use of the word, Fair insisted "but he is a ch**ya!" and disclosed that her car licence plate was "ch**1ya".

The exchange came as experts tried to make sense of Trump's erratic policy swings with regards to Russia, China, and India, as he oscillates from threats to conciliation, which his supporters say is part of his "art of the deal" shtick.

In the interview, Fair suggested the US bureaucracy, which had worked hard on the US-India relationship, wasn't entirely on board Trump's bait-and-switch policy.