Prime Minister Narendra Modi will reach across the wide American political spectrum – from the US Congress to the White House – on his visit to ensure the India-US relationship makes a strong and safe transition to the next administration after the presidential elections.
Modi’s second bilateral visit in less than two years and fourth otherwise to the United States since becoming prime minister is aimed at “consolidating and celebrating” the strategic partnership that has grown deeper with each US administration. He will address a joint meeting of the Congress and attend a lunch in his honour by House Speaker Paul Ryan.
It will be his seventh meeting with President Barack Obama, counting their encounters during multilateral summits. The two have developed a comfortable working relationship, each grasping the compulsions of the other and trying to deliver.
India’s NSG Entry
It is believed Obama personally asked Modi to come on a visit when the two met in March for the Nuclear Security Summit. It was partly with an eye to cementing his own legacy and partly to push the bilateral agenda forward. Obama recognises that the relationship with India was one of the few positives left by the Bush administration amidst two wars and other foreign policy problems.
For Obama to put his own definitive stamp on the relationship, a key marker would be shepherding India’s membership into the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group – something that flows from the 2008 India-US civil nuclear deal. There is indication that US officials are engaged in efforts with other member countries to overcome Chinese objections.
Modi himself has done significant outreach and used multilateral summits as
opportunities to press India’s case with his counterparts for NSG membership.
Meanwhile, if a construction contract between Westinghouse and Nuclear Power Corporation of India for a reactor is signed in time for Modi’s visit, the historic nuclear agreement would finally have borne fruit – something that Washington has wanted and demanded.
New High in Bilateral Ties
But fruits are visible in several areas since Obama took office. According to a chart prepared by researchers at the Brookings Institution, between 2008 – when Obama was first elected and now – US exports in goods to India have increased by 22 percent, in services by 71 percent, foreign direct investment by 133 percent, defence exports by 1,343 percent and tourist arrivals by 39 percent.
Indian exports in goods to the US have gone up by 103 percent, in services by 87 percent, foreign direct investment is up by 177 percent and Indian students coming to the US have increased by 41 percent. There is much to celebrate.
Addressing Issues that Concern India
But the highlight of the two-day visit will be Modi’s address to a joint meeting of the US Congress – the body that revoked his visa in 2005 and barred him from entering America. Now as the elected leader of India, he will no doubt derive some pleasure in speaking inside those very chambers. The house is expected to be full and tickets for the event are in high demand.
Modi will have an opportunity to lay out his vision of the India-US partnership before American lawmakers who are just as hard-nosed as politicians anywhere. It’s important that Modi find the perfect pitch in his speech – he must address issues of concern to India vis-à-vis US policy while answering persistent criticism in Washington that he hasn’t moved faster on economic reforms.
He
might remind American legislators that the relationship has inherent value and
must be held above transactional interests of various US business lobbies.
Fortunately, the US Congress has consistently shown bipartisan support for a
strong relationship with India but it has also been a strong avenue for
pressure from the pharma lobby and other US trade bodies.
Overcoming Bilateral Impediments
- May
19: A US official suggests that India should improve ease of doing business,
which is way behind than that of G-20 countries.
- May
20: The US House of Representatives agree to bring India at par with NATO
allies in terms of sale of defence equipment and transfer of technology.
- May
26: US State Department spokesperson reaffirms, India meets missile technology control
requirements and is ready for NSG membership.
- June
2: The Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission announces its plan to hold a public
hearing on human rights issue during Modi’s visit.
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Engaging with US Lawmakers
Currently several bills and amendments are in the works in both the House and the Senate to enshrine India as a special defence partner of the US and institutionalise the various initiatives such as the Defence Technology and Trade Partnership or the DTTI. Some bills even aim to include India in the list of NATO allies and five other countries for defence sales.
The idea is to enshrine the relationship in law either in time for Modi’s visit or shortly after. That is on the positive side but there is also a negative sentiment simmering just underneath the surface.
Modi may want to address rising concerns from key senators and congressmen who last week publicly criticised his government’s record on religious freedom, the condition of dalits, human trafficking and communal tensions.
In fact, the day Modi is in Washington, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, a bipartisan caucus in the House of Representatives, has pointedly decided to hold a public hearing on the human rights situation in India. The message is lost on no one.
To ignore the complaints from the US Congress -- be they on Christian missionaries being denied visas or Ford Foundation being targeted – will only heighten those concerns, not mitigate them. It is also not helpful to say that India doesn’t need any outsiders pronouncing judgement on its domestic complexities and shortcomings because all societies have problems.
The answer may lie in more engagement with US lawmakers who partly raise issues because they have constituents who put pressure. The aim should be to create a more balanced debate about what’s happening inside India and why because in today’s interconnected world any citizen anywhere can have an opinion on what happened in Ferguson or Dadri.
In the end, India needs both the legislative and executive branches to think alike and work in concert as much as possible.
(The writer is a senior Washington-based journalist. She can be reached at @seemasirohi)
Also read:
A Crash Course in India-US Ties as Modi Prepares for Washington
Sense of Urgency Over South China Sea Explains PM Modi’s US Visit
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