PM Modi invited US Prez Joe Biden to be R-Day chief guest: Eric Garcetti

The invitation to a foreign leader to be the chief guest at the Republic Day is a signal honour reserved for India’s closest allies and partners.

Updated on: Sep 20, 2023, 22:01:28 IST

By Rezaul H Laskar

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US President Joe Biden has been invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations in January 2024, US ambassador Eric Garcetti said on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Joe Biden (PTI Photo)

While there has been considerable speculation in diplomatic circles about India hosting a Quad Summit around the time of the Republic Day celebrations, Garcetti didn’t confirm whether a meeting of the grouping of India, Australia, Japan and the US would be held in January.

Speaking to reporters on the margins of an event at a think tank, Garcetti said PM Modi extended the invitation to Presidebt Biden to be the chief guest at the Republic Day celebrations on January 26 during their bilateral meeting on the margins of the G20 Summit on September 8.

If Biden accepts the invitation, he will be the second US president to be the chief guest at the event after Barack Obama, who was invited in 2015. Biden made his first visit to India after becoming the president to attend the G20 Summit earlier this month.

The invitation to a foreign leader to be the chief guest at the Republic Day is a signal honour reserved for India’s closest allies and partners. There were no chief guests at the celebrations in 2021 and 2022 because of disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The invitee is chosen through a combination of foreign policy and economic priorities, and the invitation to Biden reflects the rapid growth of the India-US strategic partnership, which ranges from close cooperation in the defence and security sphere to work on projects such as the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) that was launched during the G20 Summit.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rezaul H Laskar
Rezaul Hasan Laskar is Foreign Editor with the Hindustan Times, which he joined in 2015. He began as a journalist in his hometown of Shillong in northeast India and has worked in newspapers and wire services over the years. He moved to New Delhi in 1997 and initially focused on defence, national security, Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, while also working of foreign policy and international relations. He has been part of the media delegation accompanying PMs on foreign visits and has reported from destinations ranging from Tibet to Ukraine. Between 2007 and 2013, he was the Press Trust of India correspondent in Pakistan, one of only two Indian journalists allowed to report from the country. He extensively covered Pakistan’s domestic politics and the life of the common people, as well as the fallout of the 2008 Mumbai attacks on India-Pakistan relations and the subsequent trial in Pakistan of the suspects involved in the attack. As part of his reportage in Pakistan, he travelled the breadth of the country, from the Swat Valley to Balochistan. Reza’s first gig in journalism was writing a weekly music column, and music – especially classic rock – remains a keen interest. He is also a movie buff and a keen photographer.Read More