'Donald Trump is unpredictable': Former diplomat urges India to 'wait and watch'

Venu Rajamony, who served as India's envoy to the Netherlands from 2017 to 2020, said India must "carefully and consciously" move forward.

Reacting to the surprise victory of Donald Trump in the US election, a former Indian diplomats said on Wednesday that the India-US ties will continue to grow. However, be cautioned that Trump can be highly unpredictable and India will have to adopt the wait-and-watch strategy.

Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump attends a campaign event.(Reuters file photo)

Venu Rajamony, who served as India's envoy to the Netherlands from 2017 to 2020, said India must "carefully and consciously" move forward.

"I think India-US relations are based on a strong foundation. India has worked with the previous Trump government. President Trump and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi enjoy a good personal relationship and the Indian community in the US is a strong bulwark of this relationship. So, we can presume that the India-US relationship will continue to grow from strength to strength," he told PTI.

He said India can't take the relationship for granted.

He said for Donald Trump, it is always America first. He said since Trump wants to secure America's interests first, New Delhi will have to be prepared for the ups and downs in the bilateral relationship.

"So, it is in our interest to protect and preserve our strategic autonomy. We may find more pressure from some... from the US, to try and dilute that autonomy and make us more of, sort of an ally of theirs which may not be in our interest. So, we must carefully and consciously move forward even as we do everything possible to strengthen the relationship," Rajamony added.

"He is highly unpredictable. So, we will have to wait and watch to see what position he adopts, he has to formulate his foreign policy team and there is still time for him till January to assume office," the former diplomat said.

Donald Trump defeated his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris.

India's former ambassador to Italy, KP Fabian, said, "Coming to strategic relations, Trump will be supportive of a closer relationship with India."

Rajamony, when asked if the Ukraine war will be high on Trump's agenda, said, "Absolutely".

"He himself had said that it is high on his agenda and knowing the kind of person he is, he may not even wait till the formal inauguration, so he may make statements, make moves which indicate or reflect his thinking on how the problem should be solved. So, let us wait and watch," he added.

Rajamony cautioned that anti-immigrant and anti-minority sentiments could also spiral against India. "We need to be wary and careful of that," he said.

Donald Trump has become the only US president after Grover Cleveland to serve non-consecutive terms.

With inputs from PTI