To begin with, the consulate in Bengaluru will not offer visa services.
Dr Jaishankar exchanges greetings with Ambassador Garcetti as Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar looks on. Photographs: ANI Photo
External Affairs Minister Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on January 17, 2025 that he had urged the United States to establish a US consulate in Bengaluru and promised to open an Indian diplomatic mission in Los Angeles.
Jaishankar was in Bengaluru to attend the 'site dedication ceremony' for the fifth US consulate in India, which will start operating in Bengaluru soon.
"It has been something long in waiting, one which I believe Bengaluru legitimately deserved and expected," said Dr Jaishankar.
According to him, Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2023 had brought up the issue of opening a consulate in Bengaluru when he visited the US.
To begin with, the consulate in Bengaluru will not offer visa services, said Eric Garcetti, the outgoing US ambassador for India.
Jaishankar urged him to offer visa services too as soon as possible. "I was checking figures, and was very glad to see that last year, the RPO (Regional Passport Office) Bengaluru issued 883,000 passports. That's just for one year. Do the math, and you will see how important it is to ensure that travel is smooth," said Jaishankar.
India has about 350,000 students in the US and a Diaspora of 5 million people, the minister stated, building a powerful case for the US to get around to issuing visas from Bengaluru as early as possible.
He also added that there are three flights every week from here to San Francisco. "Hopefully, if Boeing and Airbus deliver, there'd be more. I think that's a legitimate expectation," said Jaishankar.
"I think Bengaluru has such an important place that it was for me an imperative that there is a permanent resident presence of American diplomats here," said Jaishankar.
He also said every time he had visited the city in the last five years, there was always somebody who would ask him, 'So, when is that consulate coming?'.
"It was from, really, I would say, the cross section of society. It was from businessmen; it was from the tech world; it was from academics. It was even from people you would meet in a restaurant," added Jaishankar.
With the opening of the consulate, Jaaishankar said collaborations in defence and education would reach new heights.
"I think the formal opening of this consulate is one more sign that we are overcoming the hesitations of history. It is now within our grasp, within the realm of possibility, that we realise more fully the potential of India-US relations. And I think it is important that Bengaluru too realises its potential in the relationship," said Jaishankar.
In his address, US Ambassador Garcetti, who would be relinquishing his responsibility in India soon, said he was glad that getting a consulate up and running in Bengaluru would be his last task in India.
"You know, our relationship in India is not new. Our second consulate in the world was here in India. After the independence of a new America in 1776, we opened a consulate in Lyon, France, and then the second was in Kolkata, showing, back then, the importance of India to a new American nation," said Garcetti.
India, said Garcetti, is now the second largest mission of America anywhere in the world.
"It produces the second most visas, the most students - we're breaking records every single year -- record employees, record visas, record students, record military exercises, record engagement from the seabed to space," added Garcetti.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who was also present during the site dedication ceremony, said the opening of the consulate in Bengaluru is a testament to the growing importance of Karnataka in the global stage.
"Nowadays, the world is looking at India through Bengaluru. We know there are a lot of hiccups there, as Bengaluru is not a well-planned city. But still the city has proved itself to be the safest city in the entire country for the global firms to have their headquarters," said Shivakumar.
Other dignitaries present for the ceremony include Karnataka's Minister for Industries M B Patil, state IT Minister Priyank Kharge and Bangalore South MP Tejasvi Surya.
Photographs curated by Anant Salvi/Rediff.com
Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com
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