Last year, when Donald Trump discovered that Narendra Modi would be flying solo on his then upcoming June 2017 state visit to the US, he joked that he could play matchmaker for the Indian prime minister.
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| Donald Trump joked about setting PM Modi up on a date ahead of the latter's visit to Washington in June 2017 |
Yes, that is what happened according to a report by Politico, a US-based media company devoted to covering politics and policy.
Politico, quoting "two people briefed" on the matter, reported that ahead of PM Modi's June 2017 visit to the US, President Trump held a meeting with his national security aides. Trump, reportedly, asked them whether Modi would be accompanied by wife.
"Staffers explained that Modi has long been estranged from his wife," Politico reported before revealing Trump's plans to play Cupid: "'Ah, I think I can set him up with somebody,' Trump joked [in response]."
These details were revealed by Politico in a larger piece about Donald Trump's diplomatic faux pas, which range from the US president's "desire to call world leaders at awkward hours" to mispronouncing Nepal as "nipple".
The Nepal blooper took place during the same meeting in which Donald Trump joked about arranging a date for Prime Minister Modi.
This is not the first eye-brow raising incident involving Trump's comments about PM Modi.
In January this year, the Washington Post reported, citing unnamed senior officials, that Trump has been known to often affect an Indian accent and imitate PM Modi while talking about his country's Afghan policy.
The imitation was presumably to do with what the prime minister reportedly told Trump during his June 2017 state visit. "Never has a country given so much away for so little in return" as the United States in Afghanistan, Modi told Trump, according to the Post.
Trump, by the way, may soon come to India on a state visit. New Delhi is learnt to have extended an invite to Washington, but the modalities of the visit, including the date and occasion, are still reportedly being worked out.
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