I hardly see this relationship as a “yay” from Americans.
American business leadership broke the domestic union movement and monopolized retail sales with overseas outsourcing. It was a huge win for the folks Kissinger represented back home.
I thought Modi was significantly weakened with the last vote in India.
His BJP party no longer enjoys a singular majority in Parliament, but the NDA coalition holds a surplus of 21 seats needed for the 272 seat majority. Modi’s policies aren’t going to radically change, but he is forced to include more senior members of friendly parties in his overall cabinet.
Is this not him aligning with other authoritarian leaders?
India and Russia have been politically and economically aligned since the end of WW1. A big part of that was the USSR-backed anti-colonialist movement. But India has also relied on Russian surplus agricultural and energy exports for nearly a century.
Pakistan was the historical western ally in the region, dating back to the CIA-backed military coup in '58. But the War on Terror, which used Pakistan as a launch pad into Afghanistan, burned away significant amounts of Pakistani goodwill. The (highly illegal and hugely unpopular) US invasion into Abadabad, to assassinate Bin Laden, was more or less the last straw. Now Pakistan is increasingly aligning with China, and the US has been forced to court India’s government as an alternative.
So this isn’t Modi spontaneously aligning with Putin. This is India continuing a long-standing friendly relationship with Russia, while the NATO block nations try to coax/shame Modi away on the grounds that Putin is ontologically evil.