At a time when China, Japan and Russia are moving swiftly to step up their India engagement following the installation of the Narendra Modi Government, a leading American expert on South Asia has urged President Barack Obama to do more to reach out to the BJP leader and reinvigorate the US-India relations.
lisa Curtis of The Heritage Foundation has called upon Obama to invite Modi to Washington on the heels of the UN General Assembly session in September and “set the foundation for improved ties and mend fences over the revoked visa issue”.“If the US demonstrates its willingness to establish close ties with the new Indian Government, it is likely that the BJP will reciprocate, and the two sides can refocus on achieving the vision of a durable and strategic partnership, which is in the national interest of both countries,” says Curtis in an elaborate analysis on the prospects for US-India relations under Modi.
Although Obama extended an invitation to Modi immediately after the election results on May 16, no date has been set, with the White House saying that the Indian leader has been invited to visit Washington “at a mutually agreeable time”.
China, stealing a march over other big powers, is sending Foreign Minister Wang Yi to New Delhi on June 8-9, saying it wants to work with the new Indian Government to bolster bilateral ties. Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitryi Rogozin is expected to visit India later this month.
The US, intent on putting the visa controversy behind, is also anxious to move fast, with Secretary of State John Kerry signalling that he looks forward to be in New Delhi soon to “echo President Obama’s invitation to Prime Minister Modi to visit the United States at the earliest opportunity”.For starters, however, the United States is sending its Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal to New Delhi this weekend for consultations with the Modi Government.
In her analysis, Curtis argues that the installation of the new Government provides US an opportunity to move past recent irritants in bilateral relations and reinvigorate the ties. Besides the diplomatic spat over the Devyani Khobragade episode, relations have also been strained by trade issues.
She has called upon the Obama administration to focus on a more robust counterterrorism dialogue with the new Indian leadership, noting: “To kick-start the effort, the US should send a high-level multi-agency delegation (from the CIA, the Department of Homeland Security, and the National Counterterrorism Center) to India to exchange views on regional terrorist threats.”
Two other experts, George Perkovich and Toby Dalton of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, have also urged greater cooperation on counterterrorism, notably in sharing intelligence.