INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
PM Modi has invited Trump to be the chief guest at Republic Day
(File)President Donald Trump allegedly joked he could play matchmaker for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after learning from aides that
the 67-year-old Indian leader has long been estranged from his wife, according to a new report in Politico
The article detailed a long list of "diplomatic faux-pas" Trump has made with foreign leaders around the globe, including a lack of
telephone etiquette, "mispronunciations" and "awkward meetings."Trump also displayed a lack of familiarity with South Asia, according to the
report.Ahead of the meeting last year with Modi at the White House, Trump allegedly studied a map of South Asia and mispronounced Nepal as
"nipple" and referred to Bhutan as "button," Politico said, quoting two unnamed sources
The president seemed confused that the two countries - which border India - even existed, the report says."He didn't know what those were
He thought it was all part of India," a source told Politico
"He was like, 'What is this stuff in between and these other countries'"After Trump's staffers told the president that Modi would not be
bringing his wife along to the meeting at the White House, Trump allegedly joked, "Ah, I think I can set him up with somebody," the report
said, according to "two people briefed on the meeting."White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders told Politico that Trump has developed
"strong relationships" with "America's closest allies," which allow for "candid conversations."Prime Minister Modi was married as a teen
as part of a child marriage then typical of his social caste
He left his village and his wife shortly thereafter, but the couple never divorced
Until he declared his candidacy for office in 2014, he had never officially acknowledged her existence.The wife, Jashodaben, a retired
teacher now 66, lives quietly with family in a village in Modi's home state of Gujarat.Over the years her existence has proven a bit
inconvenient for the prime minister, who embraces a bachelor lifestyle, arising at dawn for a round of morning yoga
She told The Washington Post in 2015 that she still hopes to join her husband in the capital as his spouse.Recently, when a politician from
Modi's party said at a function that the prime minister was not married, she felt strongly enough to issue a video correction, saying, "I
I am and would remain his wife and it is correct that he is married."Trump's quip about playing matchmaker is not the first joke he's
According to a report from The Post earlier this year, Trump often affects an Indian accent and imitates the prime minister.Although India
and United States relations are basically sound, things have been tense in recent months because of clashes on trade and the
administration's decision to cancel an important meeting of the United States secretaries of defense and state with their respective
It is now scheduled for Sept
6.Modi has invited Trump to be the chief guest at India's Republic Day military parade on Jan
