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Modi-Biden connect and India-US ties soar on trust
PM Modi's address to US Congress showed that both Democrats and Republicans are invested in the ties as they feel he has the ability to stand up to challenge.
The ongoing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to US and the joint statement released in Washington today show that the Indian leader has been able to connect with his US counterpart President Joe Biden with the bilateral ties charting new domains of engagement.
At the state dinner this evening in Washington, the band played “Ae Mere Waton Ke logo”, a song penned by Kavi Pradeep and sung by PM Modi’s favourite singer late Lata Mangeshkar, with President Joe Biden going out of the way to lay the red carpet for his Indian guest. Fact is that it was not only the Democrats but also the Republicans who found in PM Modi a leader to be relied upon as was clearly evident during his speech to the US Congress with Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican, as enthusiastic over the Indian leader as Vice President and Indian origin Kamala Harris. PM Modi on his part reached out to both Democrats and Republicans as India needs both parties to ensure that technology transfer is not impeded by US legislation. With India being the fifth largest economy and having a strong leader at the helm of affairs, the US Congress clearly sees India under Modi as a country with which the US can do business with. And this has already been translated on the ground with Micron, AMP, Google, and LAN technologies moving towards India with Tesla moving towards making a final call of manufacturing the iconic car in India.
After talking to the principals who are invested heavily in India-US ties in Washington and New Delhi, it is quite evident to HT that a new era has dawned on the relationship between the two largest democracies in the world. And this could not have happened unless PM Modi and President Joe Biden have trust and faith in each other and the hesitations of the past century have been deleted from the bilateral ties. The novel initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies and the cooperation in critical minerals could not have been possible without trust between the two leaders.
The single most important manifestation of mutual trust is evident with the two countries exploring new territories of technology partnership with the continuing easing of regulations to expedite the process. The GE-HAL MoU to manufacture F-414 98 KN thrust engines in India with 100 per cent transfer of technology could not have been possible if the leadership of the two countries was not committed to transforming ties between the two countries. The US has not transferred aircraft engine technology to even its closest NATO ally, what to talk to a country like India which professes strategic autonomy. The rapidly expanding defence partnership between the two countries is also a symbol of trust and will get further cemented when the US top-of-the-line MQ-9B high altitude long endurance (HALE) armed drones will be assembled in India and the hi-tech platform may carry Indian-made ammunition in future.
Fact is that PM Modi has invested a lot into expanding bilateral ties over the years after first convincing his own advisors on why a close relationship with the US is in the national interest. The decision to take the bilateral ties to the next level was taken after much debate within the core of the Modi government as the Indian bureaucracy was weaned on the diet and a narrative that the US cannot be trusted and will let India down at the first opportunity.
Today, both India and the US are on the same page on the Indo-Pacific and are not afraid to confront the challenges in the South China Sea as well as being opposed to unilateral changes of status quo by any nation. While President Biden named Russia for the Ukraine war, PM Modi made it very clear that he was on the side of peace and was opposed to war. The two leaders discussed cross-border terrorism in the context of Af-Pak region as well as religious radicalization with both countries on the same page on eradicating those who were responsible for 9/11 and 26/11. Both India and the US are committed to tackling climate change and want to expand bilateral trade to another level. The India-US ties have moved to the next dimension and there is no looking back.
