Quote:The phone call by the US President Barack Obama to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday was the ‘first use of the secure line between the two leaders’. But Obama is not known to make casual phone calls to foreign leaders to test the efficacy of his ‘hot line’. He is a very purposive politician. Simply put, Obama heard about the Bihar election and the stinging defeat Modi took – and decided to reach out to Modi to hold his hands. What are friends for, after all?

The US – and Obama personally – has invested in Modi after making a careful assessment that he is someone it can do business with. While we in India were still agonizing over Modi’s equations with the US if he got elected as prime minister, Washington had already assessed that Modi as prime minister would be every bit as ‘pro-American’ as his predecessor used to be. Simply put, the forces that backed Modi and financed his campaign – Indian and American interest groups – were familiar faces to the US security and political establishment.

Obama is coolly logical in his dealings with foreign counterparts. His masterly performance on Monday while receiving the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu makes a perfect case study of his political personality. Never mind that ‘Bibi’ hit Obama below the belt where it hurts through the past year or more when he was negotiating with Iran. Obama pretended he didn’t notice the humiliations at Bibi’s hands. But today the shoe is on the other foot — and Obama once again pretends he doesn’t notice it. In fact, it’s business as usual.

To be sure, Obama wanted Modi to know he is not perturbed by the Bihari voters’ abominable behavior towards him. Obama has high hopes on Modi’s tenure, which is not yet half way through and he expects a big hand from the Modi government to help boost US exports to the Indian market. The new ‘reform package’ announced in Delhi on Monday – especially 100 percent foreign equity in retail trade – gives market access for US exporters.