Modi sent 'waiter' to get invite to Trump's inauguration: Subramanian Swamy slams BJP over Jaishankar's US visit

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar is visiting the US from December 24-29, the first official visit after Donald Trump was elected President.

Against this backdrop, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy has decided to attack the saffron party and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Modi has despatched Waiter to US and told him to produce an invitation for him (Modi) or else he loses his job," Swamy said on X, alluding to Donald Trump's inauguration which will take place on January 20.

"But as of now, Donald Trump is not in a mood to invite Modi," Swamy added.

He also said that Modi had 'slighted' Trump when he announced that he had turned down Trump's invitation last year.

Meanwhile, ahead of Jaishankar's visit to the US, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Monday had meetings with top American diplomats on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues.

Notably, this is not the first time Swamy has attacked the Narendra Modi government. In the past he criticised India's handling of China at the borders.

While New Delhi and Washington have enjoyed good diplomatic ties, Trump's win is likely to worry India. The “Make American Great Again” policy, might make it difficult for India’s Information Technology professionals to get non-immigrant work visas to work in the US. Also, officials in New Delhi said that India should also brace for some tough trade negotiations with the US.

The prime minister and the US president-elect have a chequered history, notwithstanding the bonhomie publicly displayed in Texas and Ahmedabad.

Trump had in February 2018 discussed with Modi over the phone the issue of 100 per cent taxes on Harley Davidson motorcycles imported from the US to India, “Now, the prime minister, who I think is a fantastic man, called me the other day and said we are lowering it to 50 per cent. I said okay, but so far we're getting nothing. So, we get nothing. He gets 50 per cent, and they think we're doing -- like they're doing us a favour. That's not a favour,” he had said.

He had again in June 2019 publicly ridiculed Modi, after the latter had called the then US president to inform him about his government’s decision to slash tariff on the import of Harley Davidson motorcycles from the US to India by 50 per cent.

Trump, in the same year, scrapped the Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) privilege for the exporters of India in the US. He had also belittled India’s support to the development projects in Afghanistan.

Donald Trump's first term in the White House also saw the US raising various issues with India including internet shutdown, detention of political leaders, and crackdown on protesters in J&K in 2019. The US had also nudged ensure equal protection for all under the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).

However, Trump and Modi's call after the former was elected president has given the BJP and New Delhi cause to be hopeful.

(With DHNS inputs)