'Will work together for our people': PM Modi after phone call with Donald Trump

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said that he and US President Donald Trump would work together for the welfare of the people of India and the United States.

Modi had a phone call with Trump, a week after the 78-year-old Republican returned to the White House as the 47th president of the US.

“Delighted to speak with my dear friend President @realDonaldTrump @POTUS. Congratulated him on his historic second term,” the Prime Minister posted on X after his talks with the US president. “We are committed to a mutually beneficial and trusted partnership. We will work together for the welfare of our people and towards global peace, (and) prosperity”, he added.

The two leaders spoke over the phone even as the new administration headed by Trump in Washington DC expressed its concerns over illegal migration from India to the US in the first formal engagement with Modi’s government in New Delhi.

New Delhi, however, conveyed to the Trump Administration that the Government of India was open to legitimate return of the illegal migrants not only from the US, but from anywhere else in the world.

A day after Trump returned to the White House as the 47th president of the US, his Secretary of State Marco Rubio had his first bilateral meeting with India’s External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Washington DC on January 21. Rubio emphasized the Trump Administration’s desire to work with India to advance economic ties and “address concerns related to irregular migration”.

“We are very firmly opposed to illegal mobility and illegal migration,” Jaishankar told journalists at the Embassy of India in Washington DC on January 22. He was asked about New Delhi’s position on the Trump Administration’s concerns over illegal migration from India to the US.

Trump, who campaigned for his re-election on a strong anti-immigrant narrative, issued many executive orders soon after his inauguration on January 20. One of his executive orders seeks to restrict birthright citizenship and it is likely to hit not only the illegal immigrants from around the world but also the students and professionals, who hail from India and other foreign countries and are legally staying in the US. A US federal judge however temporarily blocked the move to end birthright citizenship.

Modi had also called Trump immediately after the Republican Party’s candidate beat Democratic Party's Kamala Harris in the November 6 presidential polls in the US.

A summit on Artificial Intelligence in Paris next month may offer the first opportunity for Modi and Trump to meet after the change of guard in the White House in Washington DC. Both Trump, who returned to the White House after four years, and Modi have been invited by French President Emmanuel Macron to attend the AI Action Summit, which would be held in Paris on February 10 and 11. Macron recently told journalists that Modi had already confirmed his visit to Paris to attend the AI Action summit.

Trump, however, has not yet confirmed if he would attend the summit in Paris. The US president may also travel to New Delhi later this year to attend the Quad summit, which the prime minister would host.