Modi to embark on ‘transformational’ US visit
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, June 16: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be setting out on the state visit to the US on June 20 amid Washington going overboard to court India at a time when the ‘split superpowers’ syndrome has deepened the fault lines in the global order.
Jake Sullivan, the national security advisor of President Joe Biden, told reporters in Tokyo that Modi visit to the US will be transformational. The Union Cabinet has already cleared the proposal to purchase defence deal to buy Predator drones, said to be valued at $3 billion, which will mark a significant alignment of the Indian overdrive to procure ‘future weapons’.
“At the invitation of H.E Mr. Joseph Biden, President of USA and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden, Prime Minister will pay an Official State Visit to USA. The visit will commence in New York, where Prime Minister will lead the celebrations of the International Day of Yoga at the United Nations Headquarters on June 21,” said the Ministry of External Affairs in an official statement on Friday.
Modi is also slated to address a joint sitting of the US Congress on June 22. India and the US will also be inking a pact on jet engine deal during the visit of Modi to Washington.
The Modi visit to the US is taking place at a crucial juncture for both the incumbents in Washington and New Delhi, as the two countries will be heading for elections next year. Biden clearly is being commented upon in the US to be warming up to 3.5 million Indian diaspora. Modi’s outreach to the Indian diaspora during his foreign visits is now a constant in the itinerary. Modi too will be seeking a third mandate next year even while Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has claimed that the Lok Sabha elections could be advanced.
For decades, the strategic thinkers in India lamented the western world giving New Delhi a cold shoulder on technology transfer in defence goods and critical areas. This gap in the bilateral relations between the US and India appears set to be filled during Modi visit, as Washington too is keen to ride Indian eagerness to acquire western defence assets in the backdrop of simmering tension with China across the line of actual control.
The unmanned aerial vehicles to be procured from the US will seek to give India the requisite strength to counter China across the Himalayas, while New Delhi also is racing to build its submarine and naval assets to measure up to the large assets of Beijing.
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