Donald Trump, President of the United States of America, is quite a regular on the news and not always for the right reasons. Now, it has been reported that he mimics Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s accent during meetings on Afghanistan.
Quoting senior officials of the Trump administration, the Washington Post reported that Trump “has been known to affect an Indian accent and imitate Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.
Modi reportedly told Trump, “Never has a country given so much away for so little in return,” referring to the USA’s relations with Afghanistan. Trump reportedly took this to be proof that the world looked at them as being taken advantage of by Afghanistan, the Washington Post added.
This elicited a lot of reactions from Twitter users.
Some on the #HinduRight like #Trump, but--a harsh reminder--he sees #Indians through the lens of #racism and treats PM #Modi accordingly.https://t.co/s9qA9KaxQb
— Audrey Truschke (@AudreyTruschke) January 22, 2018
I, as an Indian American, am appalled that Trump is mocking PM Modi’s accent. This is a slap in the face to the heritage of every Indian in this country & especially people like my parents who came to the US to escape this exact type of racism.https://t.co/6xL2q97bme
— Simar (@sahluwal) January 23, 2018
I was distressed by reading that President Trump allegedly mimicked Modi.
— Anzar (@AnzarOfficial) January 23, 2018
The US newspaper 'Washington Post'... https://t.co/ztZxtybCAI
I was appalled to read that President Trump reportedly affected an Indian accent to imitate Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Americans are not defined by their accents, but by their commitment to this nation’s values and ideals.https://t.co/Zp9oTU0Yum pic.twitter.com/7xur1rufD0
— Raja Krishnamoorthi (@CongressmanRaja) January 22, 2018
Well personally I just Love Indian accents , but this just reminds me of 70’s sitcoms , thought we would have moved on by now but obviously not. #Indian #accents #trump #Modi #Davos #WorldEconomicForum2018 https://t.co/5I7qrpX8pl
— Manish Sahi (@mansahi) January 23, 2018
This anecdote was a part of a Washington Post report that detailed the involvement of the United States military in Afghanistan.
Earlier, in June 2017, Trump called Modi as his ‘true friend’. “Important strategic issues to discuss with a true friend!” he tweeted then.
This isn’t the first time that Trump has come under fire for mocking accents. In October last year, Trump used an exaggerated Spanish accent in a speech that marked the Hispanic Heritage Month. He has also imitated the Indian accent earlier, where he reportedly attempted to mock an Indian call centre representative.
Recently, Trump was in the news for calling Haiti and African countries ‘shithole’ countries, which lead to widespread outrage.
The two leaders will be at the World Economic Forum annual summit in Davos, Switzerland, where they are both scheduled to deliver speeches. Modi will be delivering the inaugural address on Tuesday. He is reportedly the first Indian Prime Minister to attend the meet in 20 years.