Mahesh Jethmalani Calls Out Trump Camp’s ‘Mindless Rhetoric’ Against India as Modi-Xi-Putin Show of Strength at SCO Summit Rattles Washington

Senior Supreme Court Advocate and Rajya Sabha MP Mahesh Jethmalani has struck a sharp chord with his latest remarks, reminding Washington, especially US President Donald Trump and his camp that the new world order will not be scripted by American whims and fancies.

SCO Summit and Modi-Xi-Putin Tirade

Notably, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin has turned into a defining moment for global diplomacy. PM Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Chinese President Xi Jinping not only stole the spotlight but walked hand-in-hand sending a clear message that the world’s power balance is now shifting.

For Washington, and particularly Donald Trump and his aides, Tianjin highlights have been hard to digest. Team Trump has time and again lashed out with desperate rhetorics against India. Donald Trump’s trade advisor Peter Navarro even went as far as accusing India’s ‘Brahmins’ of profiteering, in a bizarre attempt to justify tariff rants.

Jethmalani, however, cut through the noise. He called out the hypocrisy and held up the reality mirror to the Trump camp and pointed out that the world no longer revolves around Washington's power corridor.

The senior advocate sent the message loud and clear - India will not bow to intimidation, whether through tariffs or through divisive rhetoric.

His remarks came at a time when Washington is visibly in a soup after India’s diplomatic outreach to Russia and China at SCO Summit held in Tianjin, China.

Mahesh Jethmalani's Hard-hitting Questions

Launching a sharp rebuttal to comments made by Peter Navarro, who questioned India’s engagement with China and Russia, Jethmalani accused him of ‘mindless rhetoric’. The veteran Rajya Sabha MP pointed out that the US itself has often strayed from democratic values while lecturing others. “How could India, the world’s largest democracy, get into bed with China and Russia?” Navarro had argued. Jethmalani described the remark as ‘audacious worst’. 

Taking to X, Jethmalani highlighted several examples where Washington’s democratic values stand compromised. He raised five hard-hitting questions - 

He pointed to the US President’s outreach to a military chief of a ‘rogue Army’ accused of training and exporting jihadi terrorism, under what he called a ‘cosy cryptocurrency blanket’ deal. 

Jethmalani further questioned, “Which leader of a true democracy seeks a recommendation from an Army Chief who has just masterminded a most heinous terrorist attack on innocent civilian men in front of their wives & children for a Nobel Peace Prize?”

He highlighted US partnerships with a theocratic regime accused of committing genocide against Hindus and Sikhs and currently persecuting Christians through church burnings, vandalism, and public executions for alleged blasphemy.

“Which democracy beds a theocratic State which after having committed genocide of its Hindu and Sikh population is ruthlessly obliterating its Christian minority with daily acts of Church burning, vandalising homes and public acts of hanging for crimes of blasphemy?,” Jethmalani wrote on X.

He also asked, “Which democratic State - committed to the Rule of Law and separation of powers denigrates it’s federal appeals court by depicting its judgement declaring reciprocal tariffs illegal, as the action of a ‘Radical Left group of judges’ and whose trade adviser dubs the judgement as one of ‘politicians in black robes’?”

The senior advocate questioned, “Which responsible executive head of a democratic State usurps the powers of levying taxes and tariffs when these belong to the legislature i.e. Congress in the US?”

US Must Stop Lecturing India

In his post, Jethmalani reminded the United States that it has very little ground to lecture India with its own democratic lapses. His message for the frustrated Trump aide was that international trade is not about empty rhetoric but about the ‘comity of Nations and upholding WTO law - which the US itself has subverted’. He argued, “While democracy is the ideal to be preferred for all countries, US democracy is for the present pretty far removed from that ideal.”

Trump Camp’s Casteist Slur Backfires: SCO Summit Sends Clear Signal

Whereas Navarro’s slur against India showed US anxiety, the Modi-Putin-Xi bonhomie symbolism in Tianjin summit had larger hints for Donald Trump and impossible to miss. Handshakes, hugs, joint walks and even a shared car ride between the global powerhouses were not just photo-ops. 

Mahesh Jethmalani’s message was direct and blunt – Donald Trump and his team must accept the changing global order. Instead of throwing tantrums and hiding behind casteist rhetoric, the US must gulp the fact that India will pursue its ‘Nation First’ approach unapologetically.