Donald Trump to be the chief guest at 2019 Republic Day parade?

While the nation is looking forward to the 2019 elections, they are also looking forward to the 2019 Republic Day. But is there a guest at the event?

India has invited US President Donald Trump to be the chief guest for next year’s Republic Day parade and celebrations, the media learned on Thursday. If that happens, the Modi government might be tempted to boast about the visit as the biggest foreign policy coup of the past few years.

While the Centre is awaiting an official response from the US, the latter is said to have indicated to the Indian government in the past few weeks that the Trump administration was favorably considering the invite sent in April. The invite was followed up with several rounds of diplomatic engagements on the issue.

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For his sheer unpredictability, Trump’s presence in the capital, if he indeed chooses to come, promises to be even more dramatic than the one by his predecessor Barack Obama who was Modi’s first R-Day guest in 2015.

Almost every major world capital has struggled to cope with the mercurial and irascible leader, and Delhi has learned the hard way that it is hardly an exception. Differences over trade tariffs, US reluctance to acknowledge India’s close energy and historical ties with Iran and India’s proposed deal for purchase of S-400 missile defense system from Russia have left many wondering if the country even figures in Trump’s priority list like it certainly did in Barack Obama’s.