New York, Nov 2 : When it comes to ties with India, Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris exhibit a contrasting case. Trump has an established track of interactions before and during his presidency with India, Kamala Harris, despite having Indian roots, has a sparse record, including a threat of intervention in Kashmir.

Regardless of who takes the White House, relations between the two countries will fundamentally be governed by the ironclad realities of geopolitics, which made Harris tone down her remarks about India.

While campaigning for the presidential nomination in 2019, Harris threatened intervention in Kashmir, but it didn’t surface after she became vice president.

As vice president, she initially hectored PM Modi on human rights but changed her tone later.

Trump and PM Modi built a personal connection, and the former president continues to be effusive in praising PM Modi, saying “he’s fantastic” and wanted to meet him last month, although scheduling conflicts prevented it.

In a Diwali post on X on Thursday, Trump wrote, "Under my administration, we will also strengthen our great partnership with India and my good friend, Prime Minister Modi.”

During the Trump presidency, PM Modi showed off their friendship at a Houston rally and a cricket stadium in Ahmedabad during the 2020 election cycle that had a whiff of electoral bias

But given the reality of geopolitics, this had no impact on President Joe Biden's administration, and the ties at national and personal levels continued given India’s position in the emerging geopolitical matrix where China has emerged as a challenge to the US.

Last year, Biden hosted a lavish state visit by PM Modi with pomp and show at the White House.

Relations with Harris started icy as she lectured PM Modi on human rights during his 2021 visit for a summit of the Quad -- the group that also includes Australia and Japan. PM Modi snubbed her with a boycott of her meeting with the Quad leaders. But last year during PM Modi’s visit, she hosted a luncheon for him, and both exuded friendliness.

At the policy level, Trump turned the focus to the Indo-Pacific region where China is emerging as a threat to the US and its allies and reinforced the emerging Washington view of India as a counterweight to China and a strategic partner.