The US has earned our smile.

"External affairs minister S Jaishankar has hit out at the Western media over the 'negative' coverage of Indian elections, saying that countries that 'have to go to court for deciding election results' are giving 'gyan' on conducting polls." "Jaishankar was responding to a question on allegations made against India by Canada and the US of poll interference, and conducting operations on foreign soil." HT. He may have been referring to the 2000 presidential election between Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W Bush, "decided on December 12, 2000, in which the Supreme Court of the United States reversed an order by the Florida Supreme Court for a selective manual recount of that state's presidential election ballots." Britannica. Mr Jaishankar is unaware that we, the citizens of India, are extremely concerned about the fairness of our elections. The Election Commission of India (ECI) in charge of conducting the election "has been criticised for its alleged partisanship and bias in favor of the ruling party and for not taking action on complaints against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other senior BJP leaders. At the same time, it is issuing warnings to the leader of the largest opposition party." DH. "The ECI clearly turns a blind eye to the egregious violations of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as is evident from the analysis of data on its website." While Congress leaders have received 6 notices the BJP has received only 3. The Wire. The ECI has been delaying information about the turn-out number of voters, is publishing only percentages and has not published absolute numbers of voters so far. In the past, the ECI published absolute numbers within 2 days. "It has been noted that there is a difference of 5-6% between the initial figures and the final figures, and that is unusual." EC. Not just unusual, extremely suspicious. Then there are questions about the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). "There is considerable skepticism about whether people's choices are being recorded fairly, and if they're being counted right," wrote Andy Mukherjee. "India is not seen as measuring up to the high standards of liberal Western democracies." "The West's rhetoric of 'democratic backsliding' in India is hypocritical." News18. No high standards necessary. "Ladakhi innovator and activist, who has been at the forefront of the protests...has questioned whether there is a link between all those trolling him and the Union home ministry." The Wire. That's going to the level of the sewer. However, even if we are greater than the West it is better not to rile the US. Not because it is rich and powerful, which it is, but because our exports to the US were $77.5 billion in 2023-24 and imports were $40.8 billion, giving us a surplus of $36.7 billion, while our imports from China were $101.7 billion and exports were just $16.67 billion which means we paid China, our worst enemy, a net $85.03. ET. Isn't it better to smile at the US rather than calling it names? They've paid $36.7 billion to earn it.