It remains unstated, but arguably an Indian policy objective during the prime minister’s US visits is to show that Washington now officially embraces Narendra Modi and extends every honour to the man it once declared persona non grata.
In early June, Modi will visit the US for the fourth time in two years. He is expected to address a joint session of the US Congress, the same body that revoked his visa in 2005, denying him entry even as a tourist.
The joint address to Congress, an honour that is not extended to every foreign leader, will seal the process of rehabilitation.
Call it sweet revenge, but Modi’s diaspora supporters and Indian diplomats have assiduously choreographed visits with photo opportunities designed to show this remarkable reversal of fortunes.
The point was driven home during the very first visit in September 2014, with carefully conceived optics when nearly 40 American lawmakers stood on stage with Modi at Madison Square Garden in New York.
A senior US official, also in attendance, smiled wryly and said: “I get the message.” A senior Indian diplomat involved with the visit also smiled when asked about stagecraft being part of statecraft at the big NRI rally. The next day, President Barack Obama turned Modi’s personal guide and showed him around the Martin Luther King, Jr memorial in Washington DC.
There have been two more trips since then. In September last year, Modi visited the US to attend the United Nations General Assembly, and also whipped up interest in Silicon Valley to invest in India. His most recent US visit was earlier this month to attend the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington.
Modi’s managers ensured important photo ops, relying on the muscle of the Indian American community to get their Congressmen and senators to attend a West Coast bash for NRIs.
Making amends
Yes, India commands American attention for several geopolitical and economic reasons and an Indian prime minister, by definition, is an important partner. But in Modi’s case, Indian diplomats and diaspora leaders have encouraged the system to make up for insults of the past through various gestures.
In 2005, the US denied Modi a diplomatic visa and revoked his existing business/tourist visa for what it termed as the “comprehensive failure” of the then Gujarat chief minister to control anti-Muslim violence in 2002.
A section of Indian Americans, including liberal academics and Indian American Muslim groups, was part of the Christian evangelist-led coalition that pressured the US Congress and George W Bush administration to shun Modi. They succeeded and the State Department complied. It obviously couldn’t foresee the future.
The outcome of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections rapidly changed the mood in Washington. A reset on Modi was ordered and President Barack Obama quickly made a congratulatory phone call, with the relationship with India considered far more important in the American strategic calculation for Asia than Modi’s failure to control the 2002 riots.
Sea change
Today, Washington’s attitude to Modi has changed to such an extent that four Congressmen, including the Republic chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Ed Royce, and its minority Democratic leader, Eliot Engel, sent a letter on April 19 to House Speaker Paul Ryan, asking him to formally invite Modi to address a joint meeting of the Congress.
“It is our understanding that if invited, the prime minister would accept,” read the letter. The details have been worked out in advance between the two sides and a formal invitation by the Speaker is expected soon.
The letter further notes the “depth of our relationship with India across a range of areas – defense, humanitarian and disaster relief, space cooperation, conservation and innovation” and the bipartisan support it enjoys. It also helps that Modi is doing everything to woo American capital and technology, and is more open to aligning India’s strategic posture with that of the United States.
According to a Congressional aide, the invitation is about India and the importance of the relationship – not about Modi per se. “It would be nice to hear from him directly,” said the aide, while disagreeing with the idea that imagery was part of Modi’s rehabilitation in the American system because Obama himself had chosen to remind the Indian government about the importance of religious tolerance during his 2015 visit to India. Obama’s remarks on the subject had irked several Indians.
Only four Indian prime ministers have had the honour of addressing a joint session of Congress: Rajiv Gandhi in June 1985, Narasimha Rao in May 1994, Atal Bihari Vajpayee in September 2000 and Manmohan Singh in July 2005.
