Amid controversy over his US remarks, Ram Madhav has argued for recalibrating India-US relations based on “mutual interests,” highlighting strains in diplomacy and perception gaps.
By TRH World Desk
New Delhi, May 2, 2026 — Facing flaks within the saffron ideological family for scoring a self-goal, BJP leader Ram Madhav has called for a reset in the India-US relations. Rejecting claims that his remarks made at the Hudson Institute in the US were admissions of “surrender,” Madhav in an article in The Indian Express meant to clarify his position argued the case for a reset in the bilateral ties on basis of three “mutuals.” Madhav underlined that the India-US relationship came under “strain in the last one year.”
Madhav had been facing flaks for having made statements at the Hudson Institute that “India had stopped buying oil from Iran and Russia on instruction of the US,” while also stressing that bilateral relations were lacking in warmth despite “India not protesting against the imposition of 50 percent tariffs first, and 18 percent afterwards.” Later, Madhav had apologised, saying his “statements were factually incorrect.”
The Opposition had claimed that Madhav’s statements endorsed their accusations of surrender by the Modi government to the US. Madhav in his article sought to counterattack the Opposition, saying that “India had reduced oil imports from 15 percent of the total to five percent during the Barack Obama presidency after the US came out with the National Defence Authorisation Act.”
Yet, Madhav claimed that he at the Hudson Institute had raised issue of the “negative perception” in India about relations with the US. Madhav, who is also a senior functionary of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), stated that “today, nobody understands the US priorities.” “Incidents of intimidation, both online and in person, are growing, causing concern to the Indian diaspora,” Madhav wrote in his article, while raising the issue of immigration-related concerns, including H1B Visa for the Indian professionals.
Madhav singled out comments such as “hellhole, laptop gangsters, etc.” to stress that bilateral relations have come under stress. Incidentally, US President Donald Trump had reposted an article by Savage podcaster in which India and China were described as “hellhole,” with skilled professionals given the label of “laptop gangsters.”
He argued that “we need to define what is our mutual interests.” His article came out in self-defence after his remarks unleashed commentaries within the BJP-aligned YouTubers who attacked him for giving fodders to the Opposition.
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