Is Modi's Friend Up to Mischief, or Is He Telling the Truth? Stagnant Wages, Soaring Prices Squeeze India’s Middle Class

A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by Tanweer Alam, Sidharth Bhatia, Pratik Kanjilal, Seema Chishti, Sushant Singh, MK Venu, and Siddharth Varadarajan | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK

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Over to Siddharth Varadarajan for today’s Cable

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Snapshot of the day

May 13, 2025

Siddharth Varadarajan

"Maybe we could even get them together a little bit, Marco, where they go out and have a nice dinner together. Wouldn't that be nice?" US President Donald Trump said in Saudi Arabia today of Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif, marking the third time in three days that he has pushed the idea off the United States mediating between India and Pakistan.

The contrast with Modi’s own speechmaking couldn’t be starker. The Indian PM has not taken Trump’s name even once. He neither endorses the US President’s claims nor can he bring himself to refute them even though they