The Prime Minister of India received a VIP welcome in Washington. The US president wants to involve India more closely in the anti-China alliance.
As of 2005, Narendra Modi was considered persona non grata in the US for years. As the head of government of the state of Gujarat, he was banned from entering the country because of a massacre of a Hindu mob from the Muslim minority. On Thursday, US President Joe Biden rolled out the red carpet for the Indian prime minister for a VIP reception with all the pomp: a ceremonial on the South Lawn, a state banquet – just the third of his term – with a vegetarian menu for the Hindu nationalist and a speech by Modi to Congress in a way few leaders in Washington have managed to deliver.
Next to Biden was the highest-ranking American with Indian roots: Vice President Kamala Harris. The night before, the Bidens had already hosted a private dinner for their guest. Modi’s assessment has changed in Washington over the past 18 years as the Indian diaspora has risen to prominence in US politics and business. Modi fan Elon Musk met the prime minister in New York, and Indian CEOs from Silicon Valley were invited to the state banquet.
counterweight to china
Barack Obama and Donald Trump also tried to woo Modi on their US trips, and Trump even accompanied him to a stadium performance in Houston for an Indian-origin audience. Now Biden is ensnaring India’s prime minister, national security adviser Jake Sullivan has called the four-day state visit truly “historic” and India-US relations “central to the 21st century”, and secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo hailed Modi as a “visionary”. Only three Democratic lawmakers boycotted his speech on Capitol Hill.