Why Modi wants a strong friendship between India and the US
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday addressed the India Ideas Summit hosted by US-India Business Council, where he made a strong pitch to American investors inviting them to invest in sectors like defence, insurance, agriculture, finance, health care, energy and space. “It’s time our partnership plays a key role in helping the world bounce back faster after the pandemic”, he said.
Modi did not name China, but his remarks were more or less addressed to American companies who want to leave China after the pandemic and are looking at opportunities to shift their supply chains from China to other countries. Modi said: “To them (US investors), I would say, there has never been a better time to invest in India.”
“India”, Modi said, “offers a perfect combination of openness, opportunities and options. Let me elaborate. India celebrates openness in people and in governance. Open minds make open markets… These are principles on which both India and the US agree.”
For the first time, the Indian Prime Minister was inviting US companies to invest in India’s agriculture sector, which has been traditionally kept away from foreign investment since independence. He pointed out how over half a billion Indians are now digitally connected to the internet, with rural users outpacing urban users for the first time. Modi said India is looking at opportunities in the “frontier technologies of 5G, big data analytics, quantum computing, block-chain and internet of things”.
Modi pointed out how India has created two big defence corridors for manufacturers and has raised FDI cap on foreign investment in the defence sector to 74 per cent.
The summit was held in the backdrop of a new preferential trade deal being worked out between India and the US by putting an end to two-year-old pending trade issues. This deal was worked out in a phone call between Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. The two countries are working towards a long-term Free Trade Agreement also, but this can take place only after the US presidential elections.
Goyal wants reduced duties on export of Indian aluminium, steel and farm products to the US. America wants India to allow US companies dealing with farm products, manufacturing sector and medical equipment to work in India. India wants to emerge as a big manufacturing hub for US and other European companies replacing China.
Modi’s message was clear: the world is now looking at India, not China. Top companies of the world want to leave China, and India is willing to fill the gap in the manufacturing sector.
Three days ago, the US Navy’s aircraft carrier USS Nimitz conducted a naval exercise with Indian Navy in the waters of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Gone are the days of 1971 India-Pakistan war, when the US had sent its warships of the Seventh Fleet to the Bay of Bengal with the aim to attack India.
This time, with Indian and Chinese armies locked in a standoff at the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh, the US has sent its warship to Andaman to convey a stern message to China.
In recent years, there has been a rise in the strategic partnership between India and the US. India has bought C-130J transport aircraft, Apache and Chinook helicopters and other weapons from the US to beef up its military muscle. On Wednesday, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said at the summit that he “was saddened by the death of 20 Indian soldiers (in the Galwan valley)…it is important that democracies like ours work together …when we see the challenge posed by Chinese Communist Party… India should reduce reliance on Chinese firms and attract global supply chains.”
By sending its naval aircraft carrier to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the US has conveyed the message that China’s transgressions and adventurism will no more be tolerated. The US Secretary of State also welcomed the Indian government’s step to ban 59 Chinese apps in India.
The American agenda is clear: it wants to teach a lesson to China for its aggressive policies in Hong Kong, South China Sea and Ladakh. The US expects India to play a bigger role.
Prime Minister Modi and US President Donald Trump already have a personal bonding. During Modi’s US visit, Trump had a long informal discussion with the Indian PM. When Trump visited India in February, the Namaste Trump rally in Ahmedabad witnessed a turnout of lakhs of people.
Trump appreciates Modi’s style of working, and he never fails to mention time and again that a million people came out to welcome him in India.
On the other hand, China first spoke the language of friendship with India, and then stabbed in the back by committing transgressions on the LAC.
Twenty of our brave jawans attained martyrdom after bravely fighting Chinese soldiers with bare hands. India will never forget their acts of valour.
India will also never forget the treachery committed by China. Modi understands this, and he wants India and the US to come together to face the Chinese challenge.
China has amassed nearly two lakh troops near its border with India. It is in this context that the US Secretary of State has condemned the killing of 20 Indian jawans by Chinese troops in Galwan valley.
The US strongly believes that it was China which deliberately allowed the dreaded Coronavirus to spread across the world killing lakhs of people.
India, on its part, is trying to give the world an effective COVID vaccine.
For the first time, the US President sought medicines from India during the pandemic, and Modi immediately airlifted them to the US. In a nutshell, the US and India have come closer during the pandemic. With US investments flowing in, India expects to shore up its economy and bring a sea change in its relationship with the US.
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