Sunday, 22 September 2024
Sunday, 22 September 2024
A bunch of fresh pictures from Narendra Modi’s 1993 visit to the United States was posted on social media on Saturday as the prime minister flew out on a three-day visit to America.
During the visit, Prime Minister Modi will attend the annual Quad summit in Wilmington, Delaware, address the 'Summit of the Future' at the UN General Assembly in New York and participate in a roundtable with CEOs from top American tech firms.
“About 30 years ago, in the summer of 1993, the U.S. State Department and the American Council of Young Political Leaders invited a young Indian politician to a special program starting from Washington, D.C,” wrote the X (formerly Twitter) handle Modi Archive (@modiarchive), with the photo dump from that visit that Modi undertook.
The Modi Archive, according to the bio in the handle followed by the official X handles of Union ministers, “ narrates the life journey of PM Narendra Modi through archival pictures, videos, audio recordings, letters, newspaper clips & such other material”.
It wrote: “From an early age, @narendramodi was driven by a strong curiosity to understand India and the world better. He strived to absorb the best practices the world had to offer wherever he traveled, bringing these learnings back to India. Thus, starting July 10th, 1993, Narendra Modi, then a BJP Gujarat karyakarta, set out on a learning expedition to the U.S.
“This visit, which took place between July 10th and 23rd, included a series of meetings set up by the U.S. State Department with political leaders, senior administrative officials, American policymakers, and representatives from the trade industry. Still very young in politics and new to international politics, Narendra Modi gained extensive exposure through discussions about American politics, foreign policy, and other matters with prominent Congressmen, Senators, Governors, and Mayors.”
Since that visit, Modi has had a roller-coaster relationship with America. In the aftermath of the Gujarat riots, his US visa had been cancelled. After he became prime minister in 2014, Washington laid out the red carpet for him.
In the current visit, Modi’s bilateral meeting with President Biden is set to be a defining moment.
“My meeting with President Biden will allow us to review and identify new pathways to further deepen India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership for the benefit of our people and the global good,” PM Modi was quoted as saying before leaving.
He expressed his excitement to meet leaders from Japan and Australia. “The forum [Quad] has emerged as a key group of like-minded countries to work for peace, progress and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region,” he said.
Modi will travel to New York on September 22 for an Indian diaspora event on Long Island. His visit will also include a round-table with CEOs of major American tech firms, where discussions will centre on cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and semiconductors.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump recently claimed that Modi would be meeting him. During a campaign rally in Michigan, the former US President was quoted as saying: “He [Modi] happens to be coming to meet me next week, and Modi, he’s fantastic. I mean, fantastic man. A lot of these leaders are fantastic.”
Other world leaders Trump has publicly praised include Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Foreign secretary Vikram Misri was non-committal on whether PM Modi would meet any US presidential candidate. Misri avoided directly addressing Trump’s claim but emphasised that Modi’s agenda would primarily focus on official bilateral meetings and the Quad summit.
A controversy lurks behind the scene during this trip of Modi. Washington has been pressing India for updates on the investigation into the alleged plot to kill Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun.
Recently, a court in New York issued summons to national security adviser Ajit Doval, former R&AW chief Samant Goel and two others for the failed plot to assassinate Pannun..
India has called the allegations and summons as “unsubstantiated imputations”.
But on Friday, White House officials met a group of Sikh activists and assured them that the US government is committed to protecting Americans from any acts of transnational aggression on its soil.
The meeting was attended by Pritpal Singh of the American Sikh Caucus Committee and representatives from the Sikh Coalition and Sikh American Legal Defence and Education Fund (SALDEF).
(WIth inputs from PTI)
