US' Kamala Harris to host lunch for PM Modi during state visit
The lunch is significant because it will give an opportunity to the PM and the US vice-president to spend time together.
Washington Kamala Harris, the first Indian-origin vice-president of the United States, will host Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a lunch at the State Department on June 23, a day after the PM attends the State dinner at White House during his visit to Washington DC.
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Harris and Second Gentlemen Doug Emhoff, and Secretary of State Antony J Blinken and his wife Evan Ryan, who is also the White House cabinet secretary, will host the lunch at the prestigious Benjamin Franklin Room of the State Department.
Separately, on Wednesday, the White House reiterated that it was looking forward to welcoming Modi. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that the visit will “affirm the deep and close partnership between the United States and India, and the warm bonds of family and friendship that link Americans and Indians together”.
“The Prime Minister and the President will discuss ways to strengthen our two countries’ shared commitment to a free, open, prosperous, and secure Indo-Pacific and our shared resolve to elevate our strategic technology partnership, including defence and clean energy and space,” Jean-Pierre said.
The lunch is significant because it will give an opportunity to the PM and the vice-president to spend time together. With President Joe Biden deciding to stand for re-election and picking Harris as his running mate again, the vice-president’s political profile has increased. Even though her approval ratings are relatively low, as an African-American woman, with South Asian heritage, she is seen as potentially appealing to three important political constituencies in the 2024 race.
Harris has become the administration’s key voice on abortion. The Supreme Court verdict overturning Roe v Wade, and removing any national protection for abortion rights, has led to restrictive abortion-related legislations or bans in many Republican states. But it has also produced a major political backlash against Republicans, which helped Democrats in midterms last year and will be a key issue in the 2024 polls.
Harris is also increasing her foreign policy profile. This year, she visited Ghana, Zambia and Tanzania in a high-profile trip to Africa to counter China’s influence in the continent, and led the American delegation to the Munich Security Conference. She is also in charge of space policy and has taken leadership on technology policy, particularly artificial intelligence, issues which figure prominently on the India-US bilateral agenda.
Harris has owned her Indian roots and often her refers to her mother’s influence. Her mother Shyamala Gopalan was born in Chennai and studied at Delhi University’s Lady Irwin College before moving to the US to pursue her graduate education in nutrition and endocrinology. Harris’s father, Donald Harris, was from Jamaica but with her parents getting a divorce when she was seven, Harris was brought up by her Indian mother.
Modi met Harris during his visit to Washington in September 2021. Harris had then publicly spoken of the importance of the India-US relationship, but also emphasised the principles of democracy and diversity as key values binding their nations together. Extending an invitation to her to visit India, Modi had said, “Your being elected as the vice-president of the US itself has been such an important and historic event. You are the source of inspiration for so many people across the world.”
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The PM arrives in New York on June 21, when he will lead the International Yoga Day celebrations at the UN headquarters. He will then move to Washington DC where he will have a private dinner with President Biden. On June 22, after ceremonial welcome, one-on-one talks, bilateral delegation-level talks and a working lunch at the White House, Modi will address a joint meeting of the US Congress.