Putin and Modi
Symbolic gifts from Putin to Modi: a manuscript by great pacifist Mahatma Gandhi and a Bengali sword.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has concluded his first visit to Moscow. It was one of the PM's unusual foreign trips. Adoring crowds in Sydney, Dubai, London and New York fill stadiums and cheer his every word. We see him hugging leaders and his selfies with them go viral, showing good chemistry with Barack Obama, David Cameron, Xi Jinping and Shinzo Abe as well as with business leaders of the two countries.

In contrast, his meetings with Vladimir Putin are more business-like. A year of high level exchanges and background work by ministers and diplomats resulted in nearly 16 high level agreements which are estimated to be worth US $100 billion in Russian exports to India over the next decade.

The uncharacteristic one day event, low on symbolism, was cobbled together to fit in with the very different foreign policy priorities of Russia and India. Indian business is cooler toward Russia than Russia's private sector is toward India. And while the Indian diaspora are in leadership positions in Silicon valley and London, Moscow's Indian community has shrunk to a few dozen from its high of 50,000 in the early 1990s.

Modi's New York, Canada and London visits brought together some of the most powerful Indian diaspora business leaders, who have all pledged massive investments into India, and Indians never tire of listing the top global corporations they head. To the chagrin of Indian diplomats, Moscow's Indian business association is mainly composed of shopkeepers, tailors and hairdressers who hardly provide the kind of gravitas Modi is seeking for his global agenda.

And yet, this is one of the most significant trips by the Indian Prime Minister, who has compared his personal journey to that of Vladimir Putin. Each has been demonized for years by both the neocons and liberal political establishments of the US and the UK. They are both staunch nationalists from humble backgrounds, who have worked their way up the political hierarchy and have reached their current status because their mentors, themselves weak reformers, were impressed by their grit.

Personal chemistry matters little between the two leaders, in a relationship that is all substance. Vladimir Putin has been to India six times, while Boris Yeltsin did not visit India once. The former Russian leader's domestic and foreign policy agenda was so subservient to America that he defied top policy advisers like Evgeny Primakov, wrecking time-tested strategic relationships.

What he could not change, however, was the deep trust of both countries for each other, which goes deeper than political relations and chemistry: it is an abiding faith in both nations for each other's values. Mohandas Gandhi's baptism into international politics and a life of non-violent political activism came through Leo Tolstoy. After its independence from British colonial rule, the Soviet Union, though devastated by war, helped build India. Indian engineers, scientists, doctors, metal works, soldiers and generals relied on Russia as India struggled to keep its sovereignty.

Modi comes from the political strand of India that was vehemently opposed to corrupt relations between the leadership of India's congress party and the Soviet politburo. And yet, he echoes the sentiments of all Indians who sees Russia and Russians as their most abiding and trusted friend. The trust is mutual, and Russians have a deep and abiding love for India, its mysticism, its exotic traditions and its brilliance.

Modi and Putin have been building and reinforcing a significant strategic partnership. For all of India's economic potential, the country remains one of the poorest in the world and one of most vulnerable to internal strife and natural disasters. The fiercely sovereign India which despite decades of defense partnerships has never granted bases to a foreign military, is seen as Russia's most reliable strategic partner in Asia. Vladimir Putin is continuing the legacy of investing in a strong India, and this investment is not measured in Rubles or Rupees - but in the willingness to exchange technologies and develop Indian infrastructure and self-reliance.

Modi has secured whopping commitments from China, Japan and other developed countries, as the Indian diaspora pours billions into a resurgent India. The Prime Minister did not come to Moscow for money, but to satiate India's unlimited appetite for technology. In the military, space, nuclear, machine and shipbuilding areas, the Indian Russian partnership has been one of most enduring among nations, and both Modi and Putin are determined to deepen and diversify it.

Putin gifted a hand written page from Mahatma Gandhi's diary to Modi with a 16th century sword. It was a simple yet potent symbolism - Russia respects Indian spirituality and humane, non-violent principles but the gift of a sword was to remind Modi who stands by India in the time of aggression. Modi does not need reminding - he knows that the land of Gandhi can never be left vulnerable again and that Russia will be the most reliable partner when, if, it comes to fighting a battle.

In Moscow, Modi needs no fanfare or rock concerts. Both he and Putin rule with massive and unprecedented domestic democratic mandates, and they are carrying out the will of their respective electorates to deepen and diversify ties with each other.