Biden's White House welcome for Modi: ‘Two great friends will define 21st century’
As great powers, US and India will define the 21st century, Biden declares; Modi says their friendship instrumental for global good
In a grand and unprecedented display of the growing strategic partnership and deep people-to-people convergence between India and the US, on the south lawns of the White House packed with 7,000 Indians and Indian-Americans, President Joe Biden accorded a ceremonial state welcome to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday and said that the “two great friends and two great powers” will define the 21st century.
Modi reciprocated the feelings, thanking Biden for the warm welcome and for opening the doors of the White House in such large numbers to people of Indian-origin, and expressing conviction that as a new world order takes shape post-Covid, the India-US friendship will be “instrumental” as a force for global good, peace, and stability.
Read: ‘Honour for 1.4 billion Indians’: PM Modi after White House welcome. Top quotes
The two leaders expressed their commitment to democratic norms as a shared value. Speaking about leading by the power of example, Biden, in his opening remarks on the lawns, emphasised that the principles of the rule of law, freedom of expression, religious freedom, and diversity of both peoples give depth to a shared future. Modi said that both Indian and American systems and societies are based on shared democratic norms. “Both constitutions begin with ‘We the People’. Both our countries take pride in our diversity. We believe in the fundamental principle of, in the interest of all, for the welfare of all… Our strategic partnership is clear proof of democracy,” the PM said.
Grand symbolism
As the crowd, which came from all parts of the US and checked into the White House in the wee hours of the morning, chanted “Modi, Modi” as well as “USA, USA”, both leaders acknowledged the role of the diaspora. Biden referred to his vice president, Kamala Harris, among others who had succeeded in diverse American public spheres, as proof of the dynamism of the diaspora. Modi expressed his deep gratitude to Biden for the honour he gave both 1.4 billion Indians in India and the four million people of Indian-origin in the US.
“Three decades ago, as a normal citizen, I had come to America. I had seen White House from outside. After becoming PM, I have come here many times. But this is the first time White House doors have opened for Indian-American community in such large numbers,” Modi said. Later, in his opening remarks at the restricted meeting between the two sides in the Oval Office, Modi said that while joint statements, agreements and working groups were important, people-to-people ties constituted the true engine of the relationship and they had just heard the spirited engine roar outside.
Read: This is what history feels like: American envoy Eric Garcetti on Modi’s US visit
The event had all the symbolism associated with the state visit — the national anthem of both countries were played, there was a 21-gun salute, the US military was out in uniform and a military band played. Standing alongside, right below the dais, was Jill Biden. Among those present were vice-president Harris, secretary of state Antony J Blinken, secretary of defense Lloyd Austin, national security adviser (NSA) Jake Sullivan, and US ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti. On the Indian side, external affairs minister S Jaishankar, NSA Ajit Doval, foreign secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra, Indian ambassador to the US Taranjit Singh Sandhu, and additional secretary in charge of Americas, Vani Rao were among those present.
Before the dignitaries arrived, a festival-like opening ceremony played out on the south lawns, featuring violinist Vibha Janakiraman and a cappella group Penn Masala performing renditions of songs by the American group Maroon 5 as well as from movies by the Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.
To be sure, even as Modi and Biden were locked in discussions in the Oval Office, there were protests by some Indian groups outside the White House against the Indian Prime Minister and the shrinking of space for minorities in the country. Biden included a reference to human rights and freedom in his Oval Office opening remarks, and members in his administration indicated that the President would take up the issues privately with the Indian PM.
Substantive agenda
But it was clear that both leaders were focused on the substantive outcomes that officials from both sides have consistently said are on offer during the visit.
Biden said in his welcome remarks that the world was at an “inflection point”, and decisions taken today would define the future for decades. He hailed India’s participation in Quad, the plurilateral group which also has Japan and Australia. “Many decades later, people will say Quad bent the arc of history towards, as PM Modi calls it, global good,” he said. India and the US were working together in ending poverty, expanding access to health care, addressing the climate crisis, as well as dealing with the food and energy crisis caused by “Russia’s unprovoked war in Ukraine”, Biden added. In a seeming reference to the initiative on critical and emerging technologies (iCET), which is seen as providing the ballast for the recent momentum in the relationship, the US President said that the two countries had made critical and emerging tech the “pillar” of the next generation partnership — to ensure that tech protected values, remained open, accessible, trusted and secure.
In Oval Office, during the opening remarks at their bilateral meeting, where HT was present in the press pool, Biden said that 10 years ago, in Mumbai during a visit, he had envisaged India-US ties improving small step by small step; 10 years later, these had transformed into large progress. Outlining the progress, he spoke of the India-US major defence partnership, economic ties with an eye towards inclusion, and cooperation in space, emerging tech, clean energy, and global infrastructure. He also hailed India’s G20 presidency.
Modi, too, spoke of the substantive ties and said that people had witnessed the future of the strategic partnership between the two countries on the White House lawns. Reminding Biden that he had said, at an event eight years ago, that America’s goal was to become India’s “best friend”, Modi said those words resonate even now. “Your personal commitment inspires us to take many bold and ambitious steps. From heights of space to depths of ocean, from ancient culture to artificial intelligence, India and US are walking shoulder to shoulder.”
Watch: The moment PM Modi arrived at White House on first State visit to US
The world was changing, it was looking to India and the US and the importance of bilateral strategic partnership had only increased, Modi said, and in their discussions, he was looking forward to advancing this strategic agenda.
In the restricted meeting in the Oval Office, the Indian delegation included Jaishankar, Doval and Kwatra while Biden was accompanied by Blinken, Sullivan and Garcetti. In the more expansive bilateral talks later, Sandhu, Rao, India’s deputy chief of mission in the embassy in Washington Sripriya Ranganathan, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi, joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office Deepak Mittal, and officer on special duty in PMO Hiren Joshi joined the Indian delegation. The American delegation also had Austin, secretary of commerce Gina Raimondo, energy secretary Jennifer Granholm, Biden’s senior adviser on clean innovation John Podesta, national security council Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell and NSC’s India senior director Eileen Laubacher.
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