US President Donald Trump is once again in the news for faking Indian accent, this time for imitating Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to a report in The Washington Post, the Trump administration is planning to send up to 1,000 more US troops to Afghanistan this spring beyond the 14,000 already in the country, senior military officials said.
Trump is said to have been inspired by Modi’s praise, while also imitating him. Modi, during his last official visit to the US in June 2017, had praised the Trump administration for US’ role in Afghanistan.
Senior administration officials said that the president has been known to affect an Indian accent and imitate Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who in an Oval Office meeting last year told him, "Never has a country given so much away for so little in return" as the United States in Afghanistan, the Post report added.
Interestingly, this report comes days after Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath said Modi's development policies for country's growth even inspired Trump.
"When US President Donald Trump was asked how he will work for the development of his country, he answered just like Prime Minister Modi is working for the development of India. This is a matter of pride not only for the Prime Minister but also for 125 crore Indians", the UP CM said while attending Akhil Bharatiya Akhara Parishad at Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP)'s 'sant sammelan'.
However, Trump’s imitation of an Indian accent is nothing new. In April 2016, during the US Presidential poll campaign, Trump used a fake Indian accent to mock a call centre representative in India.
At the same time, he described India as a great place, asserting that he is not angry with Indian leaders.
The billionaire from New York said he called up his credit card company to find out whether their customer support is based in the US or overseas.
"Guess what, you're talking to a person from India. How the hell does that work?" he told his supporters in Delaware.
"So I called up, under the guise I'm checking on my card, I said, 'Where are you from?'" Trump said and then he copied the response from the call centre in a fake Indian accent.
"We are from India," Trump impersonated the response. "Oh great, that's wonderful," he said as he pretended to hang up the phone.
"India is great place. I am not upset with other leaders. I am upset with our leaders for being so stupid," he said.
"I am not angry with China. I am not angry at Japan. I am not angry with Vietnam, India...all these countries."
Trump mentioned the fake call to India during his remarks on what he described as "crooked banking."
