India and the World

Modi-Obama bonding: The new normal high in India-US relations

- by Manish Chand

First-name bonding, “Barack and I.” Tete-a-tete over tea, “chai pe charcha.” Bear hugs, hand-holding and a walk around the rose garden, “chalein saath saath”. Footfalls echo in the memory… Well, one is not talking about puppy love of besotted lovers, but a tightening embrace of the world’s two largest, engaged democracies in an all-embracing agenda whose reverberations are going to be felt in the years to come.
In Delhi’s deepening chill, sparks flew and lit up a moribund nuclear deal and shone a new path of “shared effort, progress for all,” as India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama firmed up an ambitious template for re-igniting the defining partnership of the 21st century and walked the talk to deliver substantive outcomes. The new normal in India-US relations, which was construed to mean habituation to sub-optimal engagement, has morphed into the “new normal high.” The big-ticket outcome of the Modi-Obama summit talks on January 25 was not just the nuclear deal, but the decisive shedding of ambivalence and diffidence, which will lead to the interlocking and intermeshing of the two engaged democracies across the full spectrum of economics and geopolitics.
Talking openly, resolving differences, joking with each other, and smiling naturally. This is the way to go for natural partners, and this hopefully should be the new normal high in the India-US relationship. No time for Mr Modi to lose sleep, the deal is done.

Read More

The nuclear deal is done: India, US break liability logjam

- by Manish Chand

Ending six years of a festering impasse, India and the US have ended their long-standing logjam by sealing administrative arrangements for implementing their pathbreaking nuclear deal, with the two sides agreeing on an insurance pool to address the liability issues.
The negotiations went down the wire, but were successfully concluded with a joint push from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama.
At a joint media interaction, both Mr Modi and Mr Obama looked upbeat as they declared to scale up the India-US relations to new heights in days to come and also announced a breakthrough in the nuclear deal negotiations.

In the last few months, I see new excitement and confidence in this relationship. I see renewed energy in our engagement,” an upbeat Modi said, while underlining personal chemistry and bonding he has developed with President Obama since he met him first in September 2014 in the White House.
Mr Obama also spoke about a breakthrough in the nuclear deal.
The setting up of an insurance pool proved to be a game-changing moment to address the US’ concerns over India’s nuclear liability. After tortuous negotiations, the two sides agreed on the Rs 750 (around $130 million) insurance poll as part of risk management strategy for both suppliers and operators.

Read More

With hugs and smiles, Obama begins India journey

- by Shweta Aggarwal

Radiant smiles, a stately wave of hands, warm hugs….US President Barack Obama touched down in India to begin a three-day historic trip that’s set to map out new frontiers for the dynamic and evolving India-US relations.
The second visit by Mr Obama to India, and the first by an American president as the chief guest at the country’s Republic Day celebrations, is deeply symbolic of a new high point in the transforming relations between the world’s two largest democracies.
With First Lady Michelle on his side, Obama walked down the air-stair of Air Force One on a wintry Sunday morning in Delhi to a red carpet welcome.
Breaking protocol, Prime Minister Narendra Modi personally received him, with the two leaders warmly hugging each other – an embrace whose meaning is going to unfold in the next three days President Obama will be in India. The surprise decision by Mr Modi to receive his American guest at the airport has kindled optimism that the two leaders have managed to resolve some knotty issues and are on the verge of announcing significant outcomes after their wide-ranging talks in the afternoon.

Read More

Obama’s India journey: Pomp, symbolism and mapping next steps

- by Manish Chand

Blending pomp and ceremony with substantive outcomes, US President Barack Obama’s forthcoming visit to New Delhi promises to “reinvigorate” the multifarious India-US strategic partnership and reinforce the centrality of Washington as “a key partner” of New Delhi in the ongoing transformation of India and its aspiration to play a bigger role on the global stage.
Ahead of the trip, both India and the US have struck an upbeat note. “We see President Obama’s visit as strengthening our ties across the full breadth of our relations – ties between our governments, our peoples and our institutions,” said Syed Akbaruddin, spokesperson of India’s ministry of external affairs, in New Delhi January 22.
Washington is also betting big on Obama’s visit and has underlined multiple advantages for the US in building a closer and multi-faceted relationship. Headline-hunters may be disappointed though; breakthroughs and big-ticket outcomes may not be immediately visible, but the broad paradigm of the India-US has shifted to a point when there is greater comfort and assurance in the relationship so that the two countries can shed the temptations of hype and quietly and incrementally fructify what they have promised to do, and sustain an enduring and mutually empowering partnership.

Read More

Tune into the ‘MO-bama Show’ on radio

- by India Writes Network

From joint op-eds to ‘Chalein Saath Saath,’ the intricate symphony of the multi-hued India-US relations will add new notes in the joint radio address by India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Barack Obama. On the last day of his three-day visit to India, President Obama will join Mr Modi in the latter’s monthly radio oration entitled “Mann Ki Baat,” on state-run All India Radio January 27.
“This month’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’ episode will be a special one, where our Republic Day guest @BarackObama & I will share our thoughts together,” Modi shared the news on the microblogging platform Twitter January 24. “I am eagerly looking forward to the special ‘Mann Ki Baat’ programme with President @BarackObama, which will be aired on 27th January.”
The joint radio address with a visiting foreign leader is a first-ever such exercise and a communication coup of sorts – it underlines the new Indian prime minister’s grasp of the intermeshing of diplomacy and media in an image-driven world.
Both Modi and Obama are consummate orators, and have used diverse media tools to communicate with the classes and masses. Since taking charge of the world’s most populous democracy, Modi has hosted three monthly radio shows that began in October, talking on a range of issues, including his vision of India and the growing drug addiction among the Indian youth. Obama, on his part, makes a weekly radio address from the White House. In the US, the presidents have used radio to inform, inspire and preach.

Read More

Why Obama is not going to Pakistan

- by Manish Chand

If there is one country which is closely watching US President Barack Obama’s trip to India, and with a twinge of anxiety, it is Pakistan. Islamabad and the country’s military establishment are none too happy with Mr Obama’s standalone visit to India and the promise of closer strategic ties between New Delhi and Washington.
Pakistan, according to some reports, tried hard to lobby with the US administration to get Mr Obama to also include Pakistan in his itinerary, but for all its powerful PR machinery in Washington DC, it could not succeed in its mission of seeking parity with India in the American strategic calculus.
This is, however, no time for gloating or schadenfreude for India, which has been at the receiving end of multiple terror attacks from Pakistan-based militant outfits. In fact, Pakistan should be and will be an important theme of conversation between President Obama and Prime Minister Obama when they sit down for talks in New Delhi on January 25. Prime Minister Modi should ask Mr Obama to use the US’ enormous leverage to get Pakistan to dismantle anti-India terror networks and expedite the prosecution of 26/11 masterminds and perpetrators. India should also reiterate its protest against the US clearing a fresh tranche of aid to Pakistan, which New Delhi suspects could be again diverted for anti-India armoury and activities. But the conversation should go beyond airing the oft-repeated grouse.

Read More

Obama in India: Nuclear deal on fast-track

- by Manish Chand

The path-breaking India-US nuclear deal that transformed the two countries from estranged democracies to engaged democracies in the summer of 2005 is set to inch closer to fruition during the forthcoming visit of US President Barack Obama to India.
With barely days to go before Obama touches down in Delhi on a historic visit – the first time an American president will be coming in as the guest of honour at the country’s Republic Day celebrations – senior officials of both sides are locked into intense last-ditch negotiations to resolve festering issues related to India’s civil nuclear liability regime.
Technical quibbles aside, what has fuelled optimism about the implementation of the nuclear deal is the new energy and synergy in the India-US relations, which have been epitomised by President Obama accepting Mr Modi’s invitation to visit India within months of the latter’s visit to Washington in September last year. In this ambience of renewed optimism, the world’s oldest and largest democracies are expected to raise the bar for their overall engagement.

Read More