United States recognises that the Indian electorate has weighed in with a resounding mandate for Narendra Modi, and we want to work with the prime minister-designate on advancing his goals for India as a regional and global player, says Gujarat-born US State Department official Nisha Desai Biswal.
Aziz Haniffa/Rediff.com reports
The United States is eager to engage with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government and Secretary of State John F Kerry stands ready and willing to travel to India at the earliest, said Gujarat-born Nisha Desai Biswal, the Obama administration's point person for South Asia.
In a wide-ranging conversation with a select group of journalists in her sixth floor office, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Biswal also strongly indicated that the visa controversy had been relegated to the dust-heap of history.
Last week, President Obama made a congratulatory phone call to Modi -- who was denied a United States visa in 2005 over the 2002 Gujarat communal riots -- and extended his invitation to the new Indian prime minister to visit the US at his earliest opportunity.
Biswal said, “What the President has said definitively, what the Secretary has said, is that we look forward to working with Prime Minister Modi on the very important agenda between our two countries, and that we see enormous scope for strengthening the relationship. That we see the mandate that he has come in on, is one that bring great benefits to all Indians, and it is also one that the United States can get behind.”
Biswal acknowledged, “There are certainly concerns that existed about the events in 2002 that we have been very clear and on the record about, but we also recognize that there have been two court cases in India. We also recognize that the Indian electorate has weighed in with a resounding mandate for the prime minister, and we want to work with the prime minister and we want to work with him on advancing his goals for India as a regional and global player.”
She added, “We look forward to welcoming the prime minister at the earliest opportunity. We have stated quite definitively that he will be welcomed here, that he will travel on an A-1 visa as the head of state or head of government -- that’s the appropriate category for all heads of state when they travel to the United States -- and that we look forward to having an engagement across all areas of endeavour.”
Asked specifically if the visa controversy was now a thing of the past, Biswal reiterated, “The President stated definitively that we will be welcoming Mr Modi, the prime minister, at the earliest possibility.”
She added, “It’s way too early for us to project dates and timetables... The new government coming in needs to have the space to organize itself, to set its own calendar in order, and we are eager to engage. But we also don’t want to overwhelm them with our own priorities and our own dates. We like to hear from them on how and when they are ready, and I am sure we will have some early opportunities to have those conversations before we start doing any high level visits.”
Biswal said her immediate boss Kerry “is ready to engage. In years past, we’ve had a strategic dialogue in the summer… And we are waiting to hear from the new government on their preferences... the secretary has also indicated his own interest and willingness to travel out to India as well at the earliest possibility.”
“But again,” she said, “We are mindful that there is a transition underway and we want to give space to the new government to be able to come in and to be able to make its own determinations of timings and priorities.”
Asked if the US would like to have the Strategic Dialogue in New Delhi, although it's Washington’s turn to host the dialogue, which usually takes place in June, Biswal said, “We are very open… There are a lot of possibilities than can be discussed. But we are not looking to impose architecture or a timetable on the new government. So, we will be waiting to hear from them.”
Media reports in India have speculated that Modi’s first foreign visit is likely to be Japan or Bangladesh.
Asked whether the US would be disappointed if he didn’t visit Washington first, Biswal asserted, “Certainly not. We fully understand and expect that the prime minister will have to make his own set of engagements of what he needs to do. We look forward to welcoming him at the earliest opportunity, but we also recognize that he has to set his own agenda. So, that doesn’t cause any concern here.”
Earlier, Biswal said, “We see that a Modi government coming in with a very strong mandate to revitalise the Indian economy and to create strength and prosperity for all, is one that we very much want to support -- one that we very much want to partner with -- and that a rising India is one that we see as a force for prosperity, security and stability throughout the region.”
