Prime Minister Narendra Modi & United States President Barack Obama
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s acceptance of an invitation from the US President Barack Obama to Washington in the last week of September will see a new chapter in IndiaUS ties. Moreover, this initiative is being considered as one of the most significant ones since Modi became the Prime Minister.
T he US President had invited Narendra Modi to the US when the former had called up the PM to congratulate him. However, as reported, the United States has offered September 30 as the date for the meeting, and the Indian side has asked for it to be advanced to September 26, around the time of Modi’s first address at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). The insistence of the US for a separate date is primarily aimed at giving the Prime Minister’s visit the status of a full fledged bilateral summit. However, Narendra Modi’s invitation to SAARC leaders at his oath taking ceremony is being perceived as a powerful move. The US would always want a stronger friendship with India since a powerful ally in South Asia is going to have a deep impact in the Asian polity and also to deal with China. Narendra Modi buzz across the globe That is why, this summit promises to be one of the foremost international events of the year and will overshadow Narendra Modi’s presence at UNGA, if he decides to go to New York too. According to a news report in Indian Express, the Indian ambassador to the United States, S Jaishankar is expected to fly to New Delhi on June 8 for consultations with South Block and the
Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). He will also brief the Prime Minister on the relationship and how to take it forward. US finally realises the importance of Narendra Modi All this at a time when India has seen a policy paralysis under the decade long UPA regime and foreign investors were on the verge of losing their faith in Indian markets. With the US forces moving out of Afghanistan this year, there’s much fear of possible effect it will have on South Asian polity. Given this, there is much anticipation and hope for things changing for the better. However, the hype that media is creating ahead of this visit could very well not help conditions as both sides would be under pressure from external quarters. Narendra Modi gets going, asks babus to list failures of UPA policies This meeting between Modi and Obama also means that a significant change in US views on the Indian PM has come full circle. The process of rapprochement was initiated in February this year, when its recently retired ambassador to India, Nancy Powell visited Modi in Gandhinagar, then a PM candidate. It is also of a vital importance especially after the international showdown between between the two countries over the arrest
and humiliation of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York. She was allegedly charged with visa fraud, which saw a sharp retaliation by the Indian side. The news reports also suggests that there could be a meeting on economic ties as well. The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always spoken of the need to make India’s diplomacy trade-focussed, and wants huge investments from mega corporations, including GE, IBM and Microsoft.
Inviting SAARC leaders for swearing-in right decision at right time: Modi
With Modi’s entry into the PMO, the Indian embassy in Washington DC has started serious diplomatic efforts to lure investors. For their part, some US defence contractors are keen to sell military hardware to India – which happens to be the world’s biggest arms importer. According to the Hindustan Times report, pending bilateral issues will be discussed in the one-day meeting as Modi is keen to push the relationship forward for its economic returns for India. The report also states that the sticking points are the Indian nuclear liability law that makes it difficult for US firms to build nuclear reactors in India, and the waning US support for India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group, Missile Technology Control Regimes and other export regimes. Before he took over as the Prime Minister, Modi had said that relations between the two countries cannot be allowed to be “even remotely” influenced by incidents related to individuals. He has in fact, described the US as India’s natural ally and it was in the interest of both countries to further strengthen the ties. According to political analysts, the move has surprised his detractors as they were not expecting him to accept the invite, however, with this move of his, things surely look good for both the democracies.
Why Modi’s Sep meet with Obama is a foreign policy win
Amid reports that Narendra Modi is likely to visit Washington at the invitation of US President Barack Obama, the new Prime Minister appears to be taking increasingly pragmatic steps in building his foreign policy approach. Hav ing already scored his first brownie points in foreign policy by inviting SAARC leaders to his swearing-in ceremony, Modi is now set to travel to the US most likely in September this year, cocking a snook at critics who had predicted that the former chief minister of Gujarat would not be best placed to mend Indo-US ties that cooled off in the final years of UPA 2 before they sank completely over the Khobragade affair. The Times of India reported that Obama and Modi are set to meet in Washington in the last week of September, following the former’s invitation extended when the US president called Modi to congratulate him on his historic win in the general election. In a statement issued then, Obama had vowed to work closely together with the new Indian Prime Minister in coming years. The Times of India report said, “Significantly, the meeting won’t happen on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly in New York but in the form of a fullfledged bilateral summit in Washington.” This is doubly significant, given Modi’s history with the US. Since the 2002 Gujarat riots, his visa application was rejected. For several years, he was actually the only person barred from traveling to the US under the country’s International Religious Freedom Act. Meanwhile, Modi has also decided to attend the UN General Assembly meeting, according to IBNLive.com. Doubtless, Modi’s visit to the UNGA and the Modi-Obama summit will be the biggest foreign policy initiatives of the NDA government, despite initial speculation that Modi’s thrust would be first on China, Japan and South Korea and other areas where economy would foreshadow geostrategy in his foreign policy initiatives. The trip to the US would also reflect Modi’s ability to put personal hostilities aside and push forward issues of economic cooperation and more. As DNA reported, Modi’s outreach in the international community appears to be practical and realistic. Even the BJP manifesto deliberately omitted NAM and the promise of a permanent seat at the UN Security Council, DNA pointed out. Certainly, the Modi government would be buoyed by the fact that the US approach also softened last year when a threemember US Republican Party delegation met him in Gujarat. That was followed up by a visit this year from now retired US ambassador to India Nancy Powell who met him in Ahmedabad just before the general elections.