Don and Vladimir, say, having nothing for India (3,2)
I believe the answer is:
put on
'don' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'and vladimir say having nothing for india' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'and' could be 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and') and 'n' is present in the answer.
'nothing' could be 'o' (looks like zero - 0) and 'o' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'put' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for put on that I've seen before include "Apply (to a surface) - present (on stage)" , "Assume < present" , "Don clothes or stage play" , "Stage -- hoax" , "in an unnatural way" .)