![]() The US is showing an extraordinary degree of pragmatism here, playing the long game. Indian investments in the US economy exceed $40 billion. Biden acknowledged in Modi’s presence that Air India’s massive deal to buy aircraft from Boeing will create over one million jobs in the US. In reality, the lure of the fastest-growing major economy is the single most important element here. Indians blithely relate it to concerns over China’s rise. ![]() The alchemy of that consensus is complex. Interestingly, though, the ‘bipartisan consensus’ among America’s political elites continues to be that the relationship with India is vital for the pursuit of US interests. The US is desperately keen to have India by its side, although the Modi government’s international reputation has taken a beating as it is perceived to be increasingly ‘authoritarian’. It has been a singular success of Modi’s diplomacy that the US is willing to accept that it is simply not in India’s DNA to be part of any formal military alliance. The second one originated from Barack Obama’s mind when he envisaged in 2009 at a White House press conference with then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the US-Indian relationship ‘will be one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century’.ĭuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit last week, US President Joe Biden repeated Obama’s description but ignored Vajpayee’s sentimental coinage. That was in the first flush of excitement that the US was on a path of engagement with India. The first one appeared in 1998 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee called India and the US ‘natural allies’. ![]() THERE have been two catchphrases in the post-Cold War Indo-US rhetoric.
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