Trump's Gaza Board Bait for Modi; US Forcing India to Bend on Iran; RBI for BRICS 'Digital Currency Integration'; Zubin Canceled Israel Concerts Over Netanyahu Policies, Rekha Gupta's IQ and AQI
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January 19, 2026
Siddharth Varadarajan
US President Donald Trump has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to join his ‘Board of Peace’, conceived as part of his controversial ‘peace proposal’ for Gaza but which, going by the invitation and reported details of its charter, is clearly a broader attempt to supplant the UN with a US-led ‘multilateral’ institution. Modi or Raisina Hill are yet to respond though at least one former foreign secretary known to be friendly to the regime has said India must say no, as have India’s Left parties. The invitation comes at a time of strained relations between the US and India – and apparently between their two leaders – against the backdrop of which the prime minister has repeatedly backed Trump’s proposal for the battered coastal strip. But the Board’s “unclear mandate, governance structure and relationship to existing international bodies” make India’s choice harder, Devirupa Mitra notes. New Delhi, she writes, “will also have to assess the consequences of endorsing an arrangement that could weaken the United Nations … an issue of particular sensitivity given India’s own unresolved disputes with several countries”.
The Board itself would be dominated by Americans, while a separate ‘executive board’ for Gaza lists some West Asian and Egyptian leaders among its members. Argentine President Javier Milei and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban have already accepted Trump’s invitation to join the Board, while Islamabad, Ankara, Cairo, Rome and Ottawa are among those who acknowledged receiving an invite. Numerous European countries are reportedly opposed to some aspects of the proposed body, especially Trump’s control over its finances. Israel, in a notable departure from the Trump administration’s policies, has expressed its displeasure with the Board, which Trump would chair and long-term membership in which is to require a $1 billion investment.
Mitra observes that when considering Washington’s invite, India must consider what a “Trump-dominated body [created] to supervise conflicts” would look like. For starters, there is the fact that Trump has continued to claim credit for brokering the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in May, something that New Delhi (and Modi) has rejected. Trump did so again on Friday at Mar-a-Lago: “We stopped India and Pakistan from fighting, two nuclear nations … the Pakistani prime minister said Donald Trump saved at least ten million people, and it was amazing and it’s an honour.”
Unable to criticise Trump and the US for their patronage of Pakistan and their targeting of India for refusing to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine war, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar today vented against Poland during a meeting with its foreign minister. The Polish visitor hit back.
