When Kash Patel got here to his Congressional affirmation as FBI chief, he chanted Jai Shree Krishna, touched his dad and mom’ toes, and swore on the Bhagavad Gita — the proper amalgamation of diaspora sanskar and MAGA defiance. The person who broke each stereotype about Indian-People is now on the centre of a storm: a single picture of him shaking fingers with Pakistan’s Military Chief Asim Munir has ignited outrage throughout India and its diaspora.
Driving the information
President Donald Trump hosted Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Area Marshal Asim Munir on the White Home final week. Among the many senior American officers current was FBI Director Kash Patel. Whereas Trump’s hospitality for Pakistan’s management was anticipated, the picture of Patel — Indian-origin, Hindu, and a vocal defender of the Ram Mandir — warmly greeting Munir struck a uncooked nerve. The picture went viral, spawning accusations of betrayal, opportunism, and hypocrisy.The reactions mirrored a pointy divide. Some critics referred to as Patel’s gesture with Munir a shame for the Hindus internationally, given Munir’s utterances about Indians and Hindus. Others took a extra pragmatic view, noting that as FBI Director “he may hardly decline such a greeting in his official capability.” Nonetheless others pushed again in opposition to the controversy itself, asking why each episode was filtered by means of faith: “Munir is a Pakistani, Patel is an American — each will inevitably prioritise nationwide pursuits over religion.”
Why it issues
- Spiritual optics: Patel’s previous positions on Hindu identification amplify the symbolism. He has publicly defended the Ram Temple as a 500-year civilisational wrestle. Munir, in the meantime, has repeatedly championed the Two-Nation Principle, framing Hindus and Muslims as basically totally different. For critics, their handshake was a conflict of incompatible worldviews.
- Geopolitical timing: The gesture got here simply months after the Pahalgam terror assault.
- Diaspora expectations: Patel isn’t seen as simply one other US official. Along with his Gujarat roots, Hindu upbringing, and Trump’s chosen face of Hindu outreach, his actions are judged as cultural illustration as a lot as diplomatic routine.
- US tilt towards Pakistan: The optics worsen at a time when Trump has already unsettled Delhi — from tariffs to public reward for Pakistan’s diplomacy.
US–India relations: the fraught backdrop
Patel’s handshake can’t be separated from the broader drift in Trump-era India–US ties:
- Tariff battle: India has been hit with tariffs as excessive as 50% on its exports — the steepest on this planet. Pakistan, in contrast, faces solely 19%, the bottom in South Asia.
- Pakistan tilt: Trump has courted Islamabad with new commerce incentives, cooperation in oil exploration, and diplomatic photo-ops. For Delhi, it alerts a pivot away from India at a fragile second.
- Nobel frustration: Trump has reportedly bristled that India has not nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, a private slight that has seeped into diplomatic irritation. Mockingly, New Delhi is likely one of the solely institutions who’ve brazenly defied Trump whilst allies have bent over to fete him.
Ceasefire claims — and India’s rebuttals:
In Could 2025, Trump claimed he “brokered” a ceasefire between India and Pakistan. Delhi stated it was negotiated straight by the 2 militaries. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh referred to as Trump’s assertion that India stopped operations “underneath strain” baseless. The Ministry of Exterior Affairs issued a six-point rebuttal, stressing that no US leverage or commerce carrots influenced its determination. On the UN in September 2025, India declared “no room for any third get together” in its disputes, straight rejecting Trump’s boast of mediation. Even Pakistan acknowledged that India flatly rejected third-party involvement throughout Operation Sindoor. Regardless of this, Trump continues to credit score himself for “calling off” India’s navy actions — a story Delhi has persistently dismissed.
The large image
- Trump’s Hindu outreach: From Diwali speeches to opposing California’s caste invoice, Trump had aggressively wooed Hindu-People earlier than the 2024 US Presidential Elections. Patel, together with his non secular identification and pro-Modi rhetoric, is a crucial a part of that effort.
- Patel’s rise: Not like the model-minority template, Patel constructed his profession on defiance. He wrote the Nunes memo, grew to become Trump’s Russiagate warrior, and cultivated a model of being loud, unapologetic, and Hindu. He’s Trump’s dharma warrior in Washington, embodying each sanskar and swagger.
- Protocol vs symbolism: Defenders insist Patel was solely following diplomatic protocol. However when India–Pakistan relations are this flamable, and Trump has already alienated Delhi, even a handshake can not escape political weight.
- Diaspora politics: Patel embodies the stress of being each an American official and a Hindu son of Gujarat. That double burden makes each act — even a courtesy greeting — a check of loyalty within the eyes of the diaspora.
Backside line
Kash Patel isn’t any atypical bureaucrat. He’s the Hindu face of Trump’s MAGA world, the chief of the FBI, the person who chanted Jai Shree Krishna in Congress, and the uncommon Indian-American to show religion into political muscle. That’s the reason his handshake with Asim Munir just isn’t being judged as protocol however as a betrayal of historical past, religion, and India’s strained relationship with Trump’s America. In fact it is essential to keep in mind that loyalties come in several varieties, and Patel’s is just too Donald Trump earlier than anything.