While hosting a banquet in Rashtrapati Bhavan in honour of the visiting US President Clinton on March 21, 2000, the then President of India K.R. Narayanan frontally attacked Clinton for describing Kashmir as a nuclear flash point and Indian sub-continent as the most dangerous place in the world.Clinton had brought up Kashmir on the eve of his visit to India. In his banquet speech, Narayanan had referred to those remarks inciting panic and fear, and sharply stated, “These alarmist descriptions will only encourage those who want to break the peace and indulge in terrorism and violence.”“The danger,” he asserted, “is not from us who have declared solemnly that we will not be the first to use nuclear weapons; but rather it is from those who refuse to make any such commitment.”Narayanan’s remarks on Clinton found mention in the American pressThat hard hitting statement of President Narayanan, disapproving of what Clinton had said regarding Kashmir stirred the American press. Under the caption “Indian President rebukes Clinton”, the Washington Times reported on March 22, 2000 that “Mr. Clinton’s description of Kashmir was ridiculed by Indian President Kocheril Raman Narayanan.It stated, “Mr. Clinton, who was facing Mr. Narayanan across a table, then stood and made his own toast, making no reference to the Indian president’s rebuke.”In sharp contrast to President Narayanan’s firm rebuttal of Clinton’s alarmist projection of Kashmir situation, the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, mildly differed with Clinton’s description of the dangers in South Asia by stating in a joint press conference that “I’m sure after visiting this part of the world, the president will come to the conclusion that the situation is not so bad as it is made out to be.”Deafening Silence of Modi Regime on Trump’s RemarksSadly twenty five years after Narayanan’s sharp rejection of Clinton’s assessment of the Kashmir situation, the present day leadership of India represented by President Draupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are maintaining a deafening silence on US President Donald Trump’s remarks first by announcing ceasefire between India and Pakistan on May 10, (three days after India launched Operation Sindoor) ahead of India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri’s statement that both the countries agreed for cessation of all military operations following a call from the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of Pakistan to DGMO of India.Trump also stated that the ceasefire was brokered by Washington and a day later he also stated that he would work with both India and Pakistan to find a solution to the Kashmir issue.The US Secretary of State and interim national security adviser Marco Rubio claimed that India and Pakistan “have agreed… to start talks on a broad set of issues at a neutral site”.The striking point is that Trump’s claims concerning ceasefire brokered by American authorities in Washington was not rebutted by Prime Minister Modi who also maintained stoic silence when hundreds of Indians were deported by the Trump administration in military planes with their hands and feet shackled.The declaration of ceasefire by Trump much ahead of India doing so, inflicted humiliation on India. It was a huge embarrassment and shame for India that the US was deciding what India should do in the face of danger to its national security. It is against this hugely chastening backdrop, it is of critical significance to recall President K.R. Narayanan’s frontal attack on Clinton on his alarmist remarks on Kashmir.Trump hyphenating India with PakistanIt is all the more shocking that President Trump hyphenated India and Pakistan. Till now, through an arduous process of diplomacy, India had successfully negated and persuasively convinced the international community that India in terms of all indices of progress and development always stood way ahead of Pakistan.By posting on Truth Social that he appreciated the “common sense and great intelligence” of the leaders of India and Pakistan, Trump bracketed both India and Pakistan in one stroke and dealt a fatal blow to India’s diplomatic endeavours in asserting our country’s stature and standing far superior to Pakistan which has been a source of terrorism.Trump didn’t flag terrorism as an issueIt is all the more painful to note that Trump in his numerous remarks asserting the role of US in brokering a ceasefire, never condemned terrorism or acknowledged how India has been a recurrent victim of cross-border menace engineered by terrorists operating from Pakistani soil. Neither Prime Minister Modi nor President Draupadi Murmu has pointed out this glaring omission in Trump’s utterances which have been heartily welcomed by Pakistani authorities.This is in sharp contrast to President Narayanan’s rebuttal of President Clinton 25-years-ago over the latter’s statement on Kashmir.Political leadership accountable for decline of Foreign PolicyIt is tragic that Prime Minister Modi has shown no courage to take on Trump. Only a spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs is clarifying that Kashmir is a bilateral issue. When asked a question if a formal protest has been registered by India with US authorities on statements made by Trump on Kashmir, the spokesperson evaded it.Why such a sad state of affairs from the perspective of foreign policy and diplomatic orientation when India has emerged as a major power with all indices of growth and development, especially in the economic domain, and reckoned with by rest of the world? The top political leadership including Modi is squarely responsible for such decline and fall.The legacy of President K R Narayanan who excelled as a career diplomat before entering public life assumes greater relevance to uphold the foreign policy of India around which there is national consensus.S N Sahu served as Officer on Special Duty to President of India K.R. Narayanan.