Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived this week in the US for a state visit, where the schedule includes a speech before a joint meeting of Congress – an honor bestowed only to America's dearest friends – and a meeting with Indian expats in a mega event (a hallmark of Modi's overseas travel and foreign policy).
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The visit underscores the new heights reached in the bilateral relations with Washington, letting the bygones of the Cold War-era hostility be bygones. It is expected to culminate with a stronger commitment by the two nations toward the Indo-Pacific and a boosted partnership on strategic issues, as well as on defense and technology. US support of Pakistan and the restrictions it has on sharing advanced know-how with New Delhi has put the Indian armed forces at a technological disadvantage. But now the Biden administration seeks forays into India's defense manufacturing industries. India's market has great potential for US products – especially for defense manufacturers.
Biden has put a special emphasis on the collaboration between the two democracies in advanced military systems, despite the two lacking an official defense alliance.
Ahead of the visit, the White House made an effort to pressure India to cut red tape (bureaucracy has infamously plagued India's government) so that the sale of armed US drones moves forward, with the State Department and the Pentagon joining this push to have the transaction – totaling some 30 UAVs – finalized.
Two large deals are currently also in the works: One involves chip manufacturers, which could help the Indians build an indigenous chip manufacturing disposition that would help ease the global crisis in that field and reduce the dependency on Beijing; the second would create collaboration with General Electric in the manufacturing of jet engines for India's air force. Although one would expect this partnership to neatly dovetail with Israel in a trilateral partnership, the US-India tightening of relations could chip away at the potential profit Israeli manufacturers get.
Business opportunities explain only part of the picture in this new US-India embrace. In this era of shifting geopolitics, the clout of "swing countries" is ever-growing, boosting India's power as well. Delhi is, after all, one of the main protagonists in the US-led effort to counter China.
Despite the many challenges in geopolitics, for India, independence has remained its most cherished value. The non-alignment policy from the past has transformed into a multi-partnership policy. India's Deputy National Security Advisor Vikram Misri has stressed that his country has no plans for striking any military alliance with any country. However, India is willing to deepen its ties in forums that serve its interests, such as the quadrilateral alliance with the US, Australia, and Japan, and the partnership with the UAE, Israel, and the US, known as I2U2.
India and the US will both have elections in 2024, and this is not lost on both sides. The Indian community in the US comprises some five million people and it has one of the highest household median incomes of any ethnicity, not to mention that it is one of the most rapidly growing electorates, with many Indian Americans also living in key swing states that could decide the winner of the electoral college.
The community's rising presence in the public sphere has become much more apparent because of its inroads into American politics.
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Kamala Harris is the nation's first person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president, while the 2024 campaign already includes candidates with Indian backgrounds: Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy. Both have recently entered the Republican presidential primaries. During his visit, Modi was scheduled to meet with some 20 Indian CEOs of American companies and to speak before a gathering of some 1,500 members of the Indian community.
While Biden has opted to put aside the various disagreements with India, Modi's detractors in Washington have gone out of their way to advocate that the White House go against the prime minister's nationalist agenda, which they say hurts minorities – mostly Muslims.
The Indian American Muslim Council has expressed its disappointment in letting him speak before US lawmakers, saying that the US has for years accused India of human rights abuses but now it is the Biden administration – which has championed human rights – that chooses to turn a blind eye. US-India relations are a clear demonstration that realism has defeated ideology. The Chinese assertiveness in international relations has brought the two largest democracies closer than ever.
