Global Indian News
Nine years after the path-breaking nuclear deal turned the hitherto estranged democracies into engaged democracies, India and the US have decided to set up an inter-ministerial agency to resolve all …
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India and the US, the world’s oldest and most populous democracies, have put the recent past of drift and plateauing behind to open a new bright chapter in their relationship by launching a new investment initiative to multiply their trade five-fold, enhancing security cooperation and expanding the global compass of their strategic partnership from Afghanistan to Africa.
Piercing through the thicket of diplomatic clichés, the US pitched itself as a lead partner in India’s quest for smart cities and world class infrastructure.
India’s Prime Minister Narandra Modi and US President Barack Obama held all-encompassing talks for more than an hour and a half in Washington DC September 30, with the US shedding its ambivalence and pledging unstinting support for “India’s rise as a responsible, influential world power.”
The big takeaway from the first summit meeting between the leaders of the world’s largest democracies was the forceful assertion on the part of the two leaders to leave the recent past of drifting firmly behind and forge a more vibrant and enduring partnership pivoted around a transformative knowledge partnership and deploying cutting-edge technologies to address all-too-real problems facing millions of people cutting across the rural-urban divide.
Chalein Saath, Saath: forward we go together.” This emerging India-US bonding, with its promise of working together on a host of bilateral and global issues, will be reflected in a joint op-ed article co-authored by US President Barack Obama and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The article, which was approved only hours before the two leaders sat down for an informal dinner at the White House, will be published in a leading American daily, likely to be the Washington Post.
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Cultural diplomacy has acquired a new resonance under the watch of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr Modi, a devout Hindu and a dedicated yoga practitioner who has been observing …
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Khem Cho, Mr Prime Minister! The Gujarati greeting by US President Barack Obama brought a little smile to India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi as he stepped inside the White House for his first meeting with the world’s most powerful man. For the next 90 minutes, the two leaders sat down for a free-flowing conversation that encompassed big issues as well as small talk. It was literally a warm-up dinner, albeit with a difference -– the fasting Indian prime minister sipped warm water while his host, accompanied by his senior cabinet colleagues, had their dinner.
Sparks did not exactly fly or the two leaders went down for a private walk on the White House lawns. Clearly, the bells and whistles were missing – the kind the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh got when Mr Obama hosted the first state dinner of his presidency. However, in the end, the first Obama-Modi meeting proved to be a fairly meaty mouthful before the full-course talks on September 30, which are expected to add a fresh sparkle to the much-touted defining partnership of the 21st century. The tone and substance of the initial interaction could be best summed up in the words –- “Chalein Saath Saath, forward together we go” –- the vision statement for the US-India Strategic Partnership that was issued ahead of the private dinner hosted by Mr Obama for his Indian guest.
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Magic, mania and mystique. The Modi madness swamped New York’s famed Madison Square Garden on a bright Sunday afternoon when the leader of the world’s largest democracy unveiled his dream of remaking India and was lavished adulation that only rock stars can dream of.
Hundreds of Indian-Americans waving tricolours and sporting Modi t-shirts and tattoos thronged the Penn Plaza entrance to the iconic Madison Square Garden which is better known for hosting baseball legends, rock stars and singing sensations. Chants of MODI and WE LOVE MODI reverberated in the air.
Remaking India – this was the master theme of Modi who wove a melange of interlinked themes in his speech, which included national renewal, the role of the Indian-American community in enhancing the global profile of India, his pet projects like clean India mission, cleansing of Ganga and a compelling re-articulation of the ‘Make in India’ campaign he launched just a day before he started his American journey.
After launching the ‘Make in India’ mantra back home, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unleashed the country’s soft power at the UN as he exhorted the world community to observe an International Yoga Day, which he eloquently described as “India’s gift to the world.”
In his maiden speech at the UN General Assembly, which marked the 61-year-old leader’s metamorphosis into a world statesman, Mr Modi interspersed his robust pitch for reforms of the UN Security Council with a philosophical spin on organic connections between climate change and yoga, which he grounded in the spiritual concepts of harmony between man and nature. “By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help us deal with climate change. Let us work towards adopting an International Yoga Day,” he said.
Putting the ball in Islamabad’s court, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has underlined that that he wants to hold bilateral talks with Pakistan, only “without a shadow of terrorism,” and provided the latter creates the right atmosphere for it. In his maiden address to the 69th session of the ongoing UN General Assembly on a radiant sunny day in New York, , Mr Modi outlined his foreign policy on India’s neighbourhood, and signalled in a statesman-like manner that he wants to engage with Pakistan with all seriousness
The Indian leader’s comments came a day after Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif voiced frustration over stalled talks over Kashmir and more than a month after India cancelled foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan by registering strong objections to the Pakistani envoy’s meeting with Kashmiri separatist leaders.
NEW YORK- Fast-track diplomacy and smart development-centric diplomacy are the twin mantra of the new government in Delhi. Staring from hosting the leaders of South Asian neighbours to engaging key Asian partners, China and Japan, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is now headed for the US on a defining trip that is set to infuse “the defining partnership of the 21st century” with a new burst of energy and vitality. Spectacle, colour, high diplomacy, culture, commerce and creativity –- all these varied elements are going to be fused into Prime Minister Modi’s maiden voyage to America (Sept 26-30), which is poised to be a blockbuster diplomatic event.
New Horizons
There are several firsts to this prime ministerial trip: This will be not only the first visit of Narendra Modi as the prime minister of India, but it will also be his first meeting with US President Barack Obama.
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The Modi mania seems to have swept the 3.2 million-strong Indian-American community. Emotional bonding – this is how Dr Bharat Barai, the president of Indian-American Community Foundation (ICAF), has evoked the burgeoning appeal of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi among the third largest immigrant community in the US.
“The prime minister has created an emotional bonding with Indian-Americans,” said Dr Barai, a well-known doctor who has spearheaded the initiative to organize the spectacular community reception for the Indian leader at the iconic Madison Square Garden in the heart of Manhattan.
Conjuring up soaring expectations of Indian-Americans from the new prime minister, Dr Barai stressed that Mr Modi has struck a chord as the Indian community in the US sees him as “a self-made man” who once sold tea at railway station in Vadnagar in Gujarat and has now risen to head the world’s largest democracy.