Reacting to Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the US elections, a former Indian diplomat on Wednesday said India-US relations will continue to grow. It is worth cautioning, however, that Trump can be very unpredictable and India will need to adopt a wait-and-see strategy.

Venu Rajamony, who was India’s envoy to the Netherlands from 2017 to 2020, said India must move forward “cautiously and consciously”.

“I think the India-US relationship is on a solid foundation. India worked with the previous Trump administration. President Trump and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi have a good personal relationship and the Indian community in the US is a strong bulwark of it. So we can assume that India-US relations will continue to strengthen,” he told PTI.

He said India cannot take this relationship for granted.

He said for Donald Trumpit’s always America first. He said that since Trump wants to protect US interests above all, New Delhi will have to prepare for the ups and downs in the bilateral relationship.

“So it’s in our interest to protect and preserve our strategic autonomy. We may come under more pressure from some…from the United States, to try to dilute that autonomy and make us some sort of ally to them, which could It would not be in our interest So we must move forward carefully and consciously, even as we do everything possible to strengthen the relationship,” Rajamony added.

“He is very unpredictable. So we will have to wait and see what position he takes, he will have to form his foreign policy team and he still has time until January to take office,” the former diplomat said.

Donald Trump beat his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris.

Former Indian Ambassador to Italy KP Fabian said, “As far as strategic relations are concerned, Trump will favor a closer relationship with India. »

Rajamony, when asked if the war in Ukraine would be high on Trump’s agenda, replied: “Absolutely.”

“He himself said that this is high on his agenda and knowing the kind of person he is, he may not even wait for the official inauguration, so he will be able to make statements, take action that indicates or reflects his thinking on how the problem should be resolved. So let’s wait and see,” he added.

Rajamony warned that anti-immigrant and anti-minority sentiments could also escalate in India. “We have to be careful and careful about this,” he said.

Donald Trump became the only American president after Grover Cleveland to serve non-consecutive terms.

With contributions from PTI