"Trump Must Respect Our Right To Have Ties": Shashi Tharoor To NDTV On Putin's Visit

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday asserted that US President Donald Trump "must respect" India's rights to have relations with other countries, as Russian President Vladimir Putin visited India at a time when the US has imposed punitive tariffs on its goods over New Delhi's Russian oil purchases. 

"I don't think our relationship should be dependent upon what any other country thinks about it. Because honestly, every country has independent relationships. You know, Trump doesn't care what we think of his relations with China. And he's been tweeting about G2 and so on. I think we have to respect his right to have the kind of relationship he wants. And similarly, he has to respect our right to have relations with the countries that matter to us," Tharoor told NDTV's CEO and Editor-in-Chief Rahul Kanwal after the state dinner hosted at Rashtrapati Bhavan for Putin.

Calling Russia a "crucial relationship" for India, Tharoor said Putin's visit was a "symbol of continuity".

"And at the same time, I think it's an affirmation of our sovereign autonomy in a turbulent and fractured world," he said.

Tharoor also recalled with pride how a word he coined 20 years ago on geopolitical alignments has become truer today.

"I've written about our sovereign autonomy at some length, and I am proud to have coined the word multi-alignment 20 years ago. It's much truer today. We are living in a multi-aligned world. We're living in a world where each country has different relationships with different countries. The metaphor of choice is the World Wide Web," he said.

Tharoor added, "We have a connection to Russia. We have a connection for that matter to America. We have a different connection with our problems to China. But I mean, we're not going to suddenly start saying that because of one, the other is not going to work. I think, for example, it's very important for India to develop a good relationship with Europe. And Europe remains a significant pole for us in a multipolar world. So the name of the game is multi-alignment. Align according to your needs with whoever you need to work with."