Nepal, Sept. 5 -- The escalatory tariff war with the United States (US) and the belligerent tone of the Donald Trump administration have put India's Narendra Modi government in a sticky spot, not just with respect to global diplomacy and strategic equations, but also from the point of view of its domestic constituency and political posturing.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government's drumbeating of making India a 'vishwa guru (global leader)' under Modi has been at the heart of India's foreign policy messaging, particularly to its domestic audience. The sudden spectacle of the most powerful country, and what the Modi administration has claimed to be its ally all along, talking down to India and imposing harsh measures, therefore, thr...