Varghese K. George is the associate editor of The Hindu based in New Delhi. He has previously worked as the newspaper's US correspondent, based in Washington, DC, and political editor, based in New Delhi. He has written extensively on politics, political economy, society and the foreign policy of India and the US, particularly the rise of nationalism in both countries in recent years and its impact on their ties with the world.
Prior to joining The Hindu, he was chief of bureau at Hindustan Times. He has also worked for the Indian Express in various roles. His reports have won several awards, including the Ramnath Goenka Journalist of the Year, the Prem Bhatia Memorial Award for Excellence in Political Reporting, the Transparency International Award for fighting corruption and the International Press Institute Award for Excellence in Journalism.
President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have built their politics on the promise of making their countries 'great again'. Placing India and the US as leaders on the world stage is the stated objective of their respective foreign policies, based as they are on the assumption that both inherited a mess from their predecessors. Both are trying to re-litigate the notions of self, enemy and allies in their respective countries.
Varghese K. George, in Open Embrace, provides an overview of the changes occurring in America's relations with the world under the Trump presidency and what it means for India. While Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush emphasized that the US's relations with India would shape the twenty-first century, Trump's 'America First' politics is a repudiation of the nation's strategic culture. Trump's alignment with Modi's world view-what George calls the Hindutva Strategic Doctrine-and the US's changing relationships with India's neighbours, Pakistan and China, form a crucial part of this narrative.
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Open Embrace is an outstanding work-a superb analysis of the state of Indo-US relations in the Modi-Trump era, with a lucid explication of the Hindutva Strategic Doctrine and detailed discussions of Indian and US policy differences on China, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Marked by meticulous research, conscientious reporting and lucid commentary, this is a highly readable book that should be required reading for anyone who seeks to go beyond the headlines to the substance of policy. A triumph!''
Open Embrace is very different from most other studies on the subject. It uses an analytical perspective that draws on both political sociology and international relations. It addresses the impact of a growing nationalism in India and the US on their conduct of diplomacy. The author compares the foreign policy implications of President Trump's "Make America Great" and Prime Minister Modi's Hindu nationalism. Readers may differ on both his description of these notions and their impact on foreign policy, but he asks the right questions and his analysis is always riveting.'George has given us a thought-provoking book that offers an accurate account from deep inside the metropole. He has narrated the course of evolving Indo-U.S. ties under the two conservative leaders, both engaged in mixing nationalism, religion and populism to save and advance the global capitalist order.George's book suggests that since Hindutva shapes Modi's domestic and international agenda, analysis of the two should not be separated. Its take on Modi's foreign policy is also distinct from that of other analysts who claim that he has a pragmatic and non-ideological worldview. In fact, according to George, in Modi's doctrine there is no contradiction between
vikas (progress) and ideology, as his politics are development-oriented and Hindutva-grounded at the same time. The main contribution of the book is the idea of a 'Hindutva Strategic Doctrine' sustaining Modi's approach to international affairs, and its comparison with Trump's agenda.Donald Trump's "America First" politics with its anti-Islamism focus and Narendra Modi's nationalist agenda forged by the so-called "Hindutva Strategic Doctrine" make the two so dissimilar world leaders "natural allies".That's the premise on which Varghese George, US correspondent for The Hindu, has tailored his book to suggest that the Modi-Trump brand of politics would likely continue to shape India and America and their relations long after they have gone. Like a lawyer's brief, he has marshaled arguments with painstaking research to back his theory.This is an engaging study of the India-United States relationship, one of the most consequential for the twenty-first century, that locates diplomatic imperatives in the evolution of domestic society in both countries. While there may be different views on the author's interpretations, his recognition that local politics and foreign and trade policy increasingly form a continuum is well taken, and worthy of granular analysis.'Varghese travels an unusual path in Open Embrace to connect the ongoing internal transformation in both the United States and India to find the logic behind stronger ties. His deep knowledge of the BJP and its ideological mentor, the RSS, helps to clarify the underpinnings of India's foreign policy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, something that readers of all persuasions will appreciate.'
