Besides its powerful
symbolism and optics, President Barack Obama's presence as the guest of
honour at India's Republic Day reflects the big change in India-US
relations since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power. He even
advanced the State of the Union address to a joint session of the US
Congress traditionally given in the last week of January, by a week to
be at India's day of pride and pageantry.
That tells what he
thinks of India and how worthwhile it's to spend his time and energy on a
reenergised India that is more important and more influential and more
of an opportunity, diplomatic sources told IANS.
The Obama visit
starting Sunday marks many firsts - first American leader to stand in
the open for over two hours to watch the parade despite the security
challenge, first to make an India only trip for the second time while in
office.
Today India enjoys a much higher credibility than on
Sep 30 when Modi came calling to Washington for his first summit meeting
with Obama just four months after a landslide historic win in Indian
elections, they said.
Noting that every part of the joint
statement issued after the September summit had been acted upon, the
sources said India with its new get things moving style of working is
today looked upon as an easier place to do business, travel and work
with.
The idea of inviting the American leader in a "very
political gesture" came from Modi, who is probably the first Prime
Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru who sees foreign policy as a powerful
tool to accelerate development.
Obama is expected to accompanied
by First Lady Michelle Obama, but their daughters Malia and Sasha are
likely to give the India trip a miss because of their school.
The
Obama-Modi summit is expected to give them an opportunity to assess how
much progress has been made since they met in Washington last
September.
Besides a tour of the state of the world, the talks
are expected to cover a lot of ground on economic issues as also,
climate change, defence and security, including intelligence sharing and
the stalled India-US nuclear deal.
US Undersecretary of defence
Frank Kendall, the Pentagon's point person for the bilateral defence
relationship, is making his fourth trip to India to give a push to their
Defence Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI), ahead of Obama's visit.
As
part of DTTI, co-production and co-development of two critical defence
systems -- drones, and equipment for the C-130 transport military
aircraft built by Lockheed Martin - are reported to be on the table.
A
Contact Group set up by Modi and Obama at their September summit on
advancing the implementation of civil nuclear deal has already held a
couple of rounds to untangle the thorny issue of India's tough liability
law.
Obama and Modi are also likely to discuss the US troop
withdrawal in Afghanistan and its implications for India's security,
tensions on India-Pakistan borders and cross-border terrorism.
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])
