Modi-Trump's MAGA-MIGA-MEGA reminds Indians of ‘Eena Meena Deeka…’

Reporting on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with US President Donald Trump, a senior diplomatic correspondent of the CNN on Friday said, “MIGA (Make India Great Again) + MAGA (Make America Great Again) = MEGA is very clever branding that resonates with Trump. Other leaders, take note.”

That would please the PMO (Prime Minister's Office) and indeed the prime minister himself, even as his critics seem exasperated at his penchant for coining acronyms at the slightest opportunity. Clearly, some Americans are taken in by his skill, though they too seem amused at the Indian PM’s much-publicised meeting with billionaire businessman and Trump's special advisor Elon Musk.

Some Indians are likewise tickled by the MAGA-MIGA-MEGA affair. To the point where some of them suggested that Kishore Kumar may as well have begun his 1957 smash hit 'Eena Meena Deeka' with ‘maga miga mega’ and ended with ‘Trump pum po Trump pum po’ rather than ‘rumpum posh rumpum posh’. 

Indeed, wags on Friday were having a field day following the meeting between the US President and the Indian PM at 3.00 am India time, preceded by a meeting with Musk, who took everyone by surprise by arriving with his girlfriend, three of his children, and their nanny. Both meetings caused amusement and outrage in equal measure.

An Indian netizen sarcastically maintained that the prime minister had the ‘exclusive honour’ of meeting the nanny of Elon Musk’s children, adding, ‘no one had met the nanny before’. Another voiced surprise by noting that the prime minister did not require the services of interpreters while meeting the billionaire. The PM looked comfortable following the businessman’s English and communicating with him in English, he noted, wondering why he required two interpreters later at the White House. 

Sharing visuals of the billionaire’s meeting with the prime minister, another wit took a sideways swipe with the caption, “Elon with wife, nanny and children vs Modiji with EAM, NSA & others. One of them wearing red socks”. Both are seated with their family, corrected someone. An American citizen of Indian origin, referring to the three children in the frame, wondered if the discussion was about childcare.

Not everyone back home is amused, though. Commentators have been quick to point out that the PM could have sent out the Indian delegation when the billionaire turned up with his family.

If it was meant to be a personal or informal meeting, the presence of an officer from the PMO or the Indian embassy should have been enough, they point out. It was embarrassing to see the foreign minister, foreign secretary and India's national security advisor sitting through the meeting with the children and the nanny, they felt.

A distinguished editor could not resist the temptation to describe in one sentence the meeting between the PM and the US President: 'Dolands meet, one announces reciprocal tariffs, the other hails friendship,' he posted.