Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the India-US relationship is broader in engagement, deeper in understanding, and warmer in friendship than ever before. In a rare interview with the British business daily Financial Times (FT), Modi maintained the relationship was on an “upward trajectory”.
The comments came a month after the US Department of Justice unsealed an indictment implicating Indian official Nikhil Gupta for orchestrating a plot in June to assassinate Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in New York.
Gupta allegedly hired a hitman, who turned out to be an undercover agent for US law enforcement. India acknowledged inputs on the plot from the US and announced the constitution of a committee to examine the issue while promising necessary follow-up action.
All five Indian-American members of the US Congress this month warned of “significant damage” to the “very consequential” India-US partnership unless New Delhi probes and holds those responsible for plotting to kill Pannun, an American-Canadian citizen whom India has designated as a terrorist.
Gupta’s indictment came to light in November, five months after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada was investigating whether Indian “agents” were behind the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June. India rejected Trudeau’s claim as “absurd” and asked 41 Canadian diplomats to leave the country.
{{/usCountry}}Gupta’s indictment came to light in November, five months after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada was investigating whether Indian “agents” were behind the killing of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia in June. India rejected Trudeau’s claim as “absurd” and asked 41 Canadian diplomats to leave the country.
{{/usCountry}}Modi told FT the national interest as the foremost guiding principle in foreign affairs allows India to engage with nations in a manner that respects mutual interests and acknowledges the complexities of contemporary geopolitics. “The world is interconnected as well as interdependent.”
FT said Modi outlined India’s mix-and-match foreign policy while a senior government official, speaking anonymously to the paper, described India’s current position in a multipolar and multilateral world as a “sweet spot”.
FT noted Modi maintained close ties with Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, in keeping with India’s decades-old non-alignment policy. It added he also cemented a closer-than-ever relationship with President Joe Biden during a June state visit to the US when the two countries signed a raft of agreements in areas ranging from jet engines to quantum computing.
Modi brushed aside a question about a relaxation of US-China tensions. He added they are “best addressed by the people and government of America and China”.
Modi said India has supported the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza while reiterating its support for a two-state solution. FT noted India has long been a staunch supporter of the Palestinian cause but has grown closer to Israel under Modi, the first Indian prime minister to visit the country. It added the Modi government has mostly refrained from criticising Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on the Israel-Hamas conflict.
FT said Israel is the Modi government’s key partner with which it shares technology and a right-wing nationalist worldview.
Modi said he remains in touch with the leaders in West Asia and if there is anything India can do to take forward efforts towards peace, it will certainly do so.