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• Home ›   News, Events, and Press Release ›   PM marks successful visit to Canada by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

PM marks successful visit to Canada by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

  Press Release by Government of Canada

  Prime Ministerof Canada   Stephen Harper|16 April 2015

  Vancouver, British Columbia

Introduction

  Prime Minister Stephen Harper today marked the conclusion of a highly productive visit to Canada by Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India. The two-day visit, which included stops in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver, was Prime Minister Modi's first visit to Canada since taking office and the first bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister since 1973.

  During the visit, Prime Minister Harper and Prime Minister Modi committed to elevate the bilateral relationship to a strategic partnership and further broadened its scope through a number of important initiatives. The leaders also saw the completion of memoranda of understanding in a range of areas, including civil aviation, rail regulation, education and skills development, and space cooperation, and projects focused on maternal, newborn and child health. Canada and India also finalized all steps necessary for the entry-into-force of the Social Security Agreement, which will take place on August 1, 2015.

  Prime Minister Harper also welcomed Prime Minister Modi's announcement that India will issue visas upon arrival, which will make it easier for Canadians to travel to India.

  On the margins of the visit, several commercial agreements between Canadian and Indian companies were announced. With a combined value of over $1.6 billion, these agreements will benefit a range of sectors, including aerospace and defence, education, energy, mining, infrastructure, sustainable technologies, and information and communications technology. They further demonstrate the significant growth taking place in the Canada-India bilateral commercial relationship.

  One commercial agreement involving Saskatchewan-based Cameco will see the company supply India with over seven million pounds of uranium over the next five years. This deal was made possible due in part to the Canada-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement negotiated by our Government.

  Prime Minister Harper and Prime Minister Modi welcomed the progress made on negotiating a Bilateral Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement and agreed to intensify discussions to finalize the outstanding issues.

  The prime ministers also participated in several cultural events where they met with members of Canada's vibrant Indo-Canadian community. During these events, Prime Minister Harper paid tribute to the tremendous contributions this community continues to make to our country's social, cultural and economic landscape.

  The leaders issued a joint statement reaffirming and further expanding the scope of the new strategic partnership between Canada and India.

Quick Facts

• Canada and India have long-standing and positive bilateral relations based on shared values of democracy, pluralism and a mutual interest in expanding trade.
• India is Canada's largest trading partner in South Asia and is a priority market under Canada's Global Markets Action Plan.
• With bilateral merchandise trade totalling nearly $6.3 billion in 2014 in addition to the over $1.5 billion in bilateral services trade in 2013, a market of more than 1.2 billion people, and a predicted economic growth of 7.5 per cent in 2015, India represents exciting opportunities for Canadian businesses.
• Canada's approximately 1.2 million Indian diaspora community is one of the largest Indian diasporas in the world.
• Prime Minister Harper first met Prime Minister Modi on the margins of the G-20 Summit in Australia in November 2014. Prime Minister Harper also visited India in November 2012 and November 2009.
• This is the first bilateral visit to Canada by an Indian Prime Minister since 1973.

  "With its expanding population and impressive economic growth, India represents tremendous opportunities for Canadian companies.  But we have only begun to scratch the surface of our true commercial potential. That is why Prime Minister Modi and I were pleased by the scope and volume of bilateral initiatives and commercial agreements that took place during his visit. These initiatives will help to further strengthen our relations." - Prime Minister Stephen Harper

  "Canada and India enjoy a special friendship, underpinned by a vibrant Indo-Canadian community, which continues to make tremendous contributions to our nation's cultural and economic fabric. It was a pleasure this week to meet with Prime Minister Modi and members of the Indo-anadian community to further cement the strong bonds that unite our countries." - Prime Minister Stephen Harper

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Prime Minister Modi's Visit to Canada

“नया उत्साह: नए कदम – New Vigour: New Steps” is the title that defines the new level of bi-lateral relationship between India and Canada. The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper hosted Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on his historic bilateral visit Canada, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in 42 years to Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver (14-16 April 2015). The visit comprised of extensive engagement with Canada’s political, business and academic leadership and robust interactions with the Indian Diaspora. The importance of the visit for Canada can be judged by the fact that Prime Minister Harper accompanied Prime Minister Modi on his three city tour.

The visit led to detailed discussions to assess the full spectrum of bilateral relations and exchange perspectives on a range of regional and international issues of mutual interest, it was a step in advancing a relationship that had been stalled for some time, a point that was also raised by Prime Minister Modi when he said that the ‘relationship has drifted in the past’. 1

The joint statement released during the visit stressed on the “importance of renewing the momentum of the bilateral relationship and welcomes the continuing diversification, growth and deepening of bilateral relations, rooted in shared values of democracy, pluralism, tolerance, human rights and rule of law, and based  on  expanding  economic  engagement  and long-standing people-to-people ties. The two nations also agreed to hold regular discussions including on the margins of international meetings.” 2

India has decided to focus on setting a ‘trajectory’ for bi-lateral relation with cooperation in energy sector, including civil nuclear energy and attracting trade and technology for India's development, Smart Cities and agro-industry, and Research and Education. It is hoped that this visit would help reinvigorate the relationship between India and Canada.

Nuclear Energy Cooperation

Energy is a major aspect of the relationship that India wants to build with Canada, and nuclear energy is an area where the two nations have cooperated in the past. In 1955, the Canadian government announced that it would transfer nuclear technology to India under the auspices of the Colombo Plan. In April 1956, Prime Minister Nehru and Prime Minister Reid formally signed the Canada-India (CIR) agreement and the Canadian government sold the first CANDU reactors to India in 1963. However, due to India’s decision to conduct nuclear tests and its reservation about the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and other such international agreements on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, the relationship suffered.

Nonetheless, the support extended by Canada to the India-US civil nuclear agreement is being viewed as the start of a new ‘energy’ relationship between the two nations. The two prime ministers welcomed the signing of an agreement between the Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India and Cameco of Canada for long-term supply of uranium to India to meet its energy needs. Canada is the world’s second largest producer of uranium. The supply contract was made possible under the Canada-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement (NCA), which came into force in September 2013. With known uranium resources of 572,000 tonnes of U3O8 (485,000 tU), as well as continuing exploration, Canada has a significant role in meeting future world demand 3 and in India, Canada has a growing market. Both countries have recognised that the agreement would impart a new significance to India-Canada Civil Nuclear Cooperation.

The two leaders, recognising the importance of taking the collaboration in nuclear science and technology to the next level, have encouraged their respective atomic energy establishments and research institutions to establish mechanisms for long-term and mutually beneficial R&D collaboration in peaceful uses of nuclear energy, along with the need to explore mutually beneficial partnerships in the application of radio-isotopes for societal benefits.

Canada has been the world leader in nuclear research and development and is a leading exporter of nuclear technology for peaceful use, including medical diagnosis and cancer treatment. The Canadian nuclear industry is a significant contributor to the Canadian economy in terms of GDP, government revenue, and employment.  There are over 150 companies that supply products and/or services to Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) and the utilities. The industry is mainly concentrated in Ontario, and to a lesser extent in Saskatchewan, Quebec and New Brunswick. The Canadian nuclear energy programme contribution to the economy and society is over and above energy benefits. It results in: an industry that generates revenues of around $6.6 billion per annum (this includes value of nuclear electricity produced, which represents about $5 billion per annum, export sales (including CANDU equipment/service exports ($500 million), uranium ($500 million), medical and industrial isotopes and related equipment ($300 million)). These figures do not take into account the health and environmental benefits of nuclear technology and Federal and provincial revenues through taxes of $1.5 billion. The most recent data indicated that annual employment (direct and indirect) associated with the nuclear industry in Canada was over 30,000. There are about 21,000 direct jobs, 10,000 indirect jobs (contractors to the industry) plus 40,000 spin-off jobs. 4

According to the World Nuclear Association (WNA), the greatest growth in nuclear energy generation is expected to be in Asia, particularly in India, China and South Asia. In India, the demand for energy is increasing rapidly and will continue to increase as the Indian economy grows. It is to fuel this growing economy that India is exploring all options in the energy sector including nuclear energy. India has developed an indigenous  civil  nuclear  base but it is, at present, in a nascent stage and India is looking for international partners, who can assist it. It is India’s aim to play a role in the export of nuclear technology in the future.

Given the above, it is in Canada’s interest to pursue a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with India. It will allow Canada to sell nuclear technology to India. This will benefit both nations; economically, it would be viable for Canada, whereas India, with its past experience of CANDU reactors, would be willing to expand the relationship. The growth of the Indian economy has forced nations to reconsider their relations with India. Developed economies, such as the United States and Japan today are actively engaging India. As such, it would not be in Canada’s interest to ignore the developments in India. Similarly, for India, which has the ambition of being a great power, it would be counterproductive if it did not engage with Canada.

To take this collaboration further, the two countries have agreed to encourage a collaborative programme to leverage their industries’ respective strengths in the field of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor technology for mutual benefit, as well as for the benefit of global nuclear energy needs. They also encouraged closer cooperation in civil nuclear energy between their companies and Canada has welcomed the setting up of the India Nuclear Insurance Pool with potential participation of foreign companies as a positive step towards facilitating such cooperation, said the joint statement. Both nations have agreed to exchange experiences and developments on safety and regulatory issues. To take this forward, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board of India and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission have finalised an arrangement for regulatory cooperation in the field of nuclear and radiation safety regulation. Both agreed to encourage a collaborative programme to leverage their industries’ respective strengths in the field of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor technology for mutual benefit, as well as for the benefit of global nuclear energy needs. Canada also reiterated the planned Canadian civil nuclear trade mission to India in October 2015. 5 The agreements ‘reflect a new level of mutual trust and confidence. Further it will contribute to India’s efforts to power its growth with clean energy.” 6

The ‘energy’ relationship is not restricted to nuclear energy; India is also exploring the opportunities in the vast natural gas and oil reserves in Canada, with Indian oil companies like ONGC Videsh proposing to invest in projects in Canada.

India is looking towards Canada to partner in India’s economic transformations. Bi-lateral trade relations between the two nations are yet to reach their potential. Notwithstanding the good relations that our two countries have enjoyed and the many similarities between their institutions, trade and investment has remained subdued. The two prime ministers agreed that the early finalisation of the Bi-lateral Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPPA) would greatly facilitate in realising the goal of enhanced trade and investment cooperation between the two countries. Canada has expressed interest in the various initiatives launched by the Indian government including the ‘smart cities’ initiative, affordable housing for all by 2022 and, most importantly, the ‘make in India’ initiative. These provide the two nations with opportunities for collaborative ventures that could build the promising economic relations.

Canada has prioritised India in its Global Market Action Plan. Through the plan, the Government of Canada concentrates its efforts on the markets that hold the greatest promise for Canadian business.  It is also an expansion of the concept of "economic diplomacy" of the Government of Canada. India has been identified for the key opportunities that it provides in such sectors as aerospace, agriculture sustainable technology and railways among many others. It is not surprising then that during the visit, memorandum of understanding was reached between India and Canada on rail, civil aviation and space.

India is also anticipating that its elevated status would transform into greater investment from Canada into India. In 2013, the Canadian investment was a relatively low at US$ 613 million as compared to Indian investments in Canada of US$3776 million. 7

The India-Canada Economic and Financial Sector Policy Dialogue, announced in 2013, is the platform  through  which  India  and  Canada  could  develop  and  maintain  relations  on financial sector issues between them, and promote collaboration between Indian and Canadian financial institutions. The Canada-India EFSP dialogue aim to strengthen the bilateral relationship and explore areas of deeper cooperation between financial sector regulators from both countries. By building a better understanding of each other's financial sector framework, financial sector regulators can effectively work together to address policy and regulatory issues of mutual interest. The EFSP Dialogue process demonstrates India and Canada's joint commitment to building strong bilateral ties as the trade and investment relationship between the two countries grows. 8

The International Monetary Fund projects, by 2016, India's GDP growth will outpace that of China, becoming the fastest-growing major economy in the world. Prime Minister Modi’s assurances to India’s global partners that the government is taking all possible steps to reduce the bureaucratic process and simplify tax laws to attract investments has been well appreciated in Canada. The ‘Make in India’ initiative, which aims to develop India as a manufacturing hub, provides Canada with an opportune moment to partner with India. With large firms setting up manufacturing units in India, it would provide India’s youth population, large segment of which is shifting from rural to urban areas, with employment, while for the industry, it would provide cheap labour and a stable economic environment to work in.

Education and Skills Development

India’s large youth population is not just seeking job opportunities, but is better education aspiring to higher standards of living. Canadian universities are attracting a significant number of Indian students. Prime Minister Modi has identified education as one of the key areas of priority for bi-lateral engagement and agreed to focus on greater student, faculty and people-to-people exchanges. Both India and Canada have affirmed that cooperation in education should focus on building the quality of human resources in both countries. They noted that India is a priority country under Canada’s International Education Strategy.

Indian students are increasingly looking at foreign universities to bolster their education experience and qualifications, while universities and institutes of higher education in   Canada  are  seeking  greater  internationalisation.  India’s  immense  education  needs  are based in large part on the country’s inability, with limited government resources, to provide relevant and quality education in order to prepare a large and growing student population as well as the growing labour force for gainful employment in the new Indian economy. 9 Close links between Canadian institutions and their Indian counterparts, both in the area of student recruitment and also in forging partnerships, affiliations, joint programming and facilitating an exchange of faculty and scholars, thus, is a perfect step in developing this mutual interest in better qualified and informed global citizens.

Educational collaboration would help build a fruitful relationship between India and Canada. It would not only help in building a knowledge based society, but would also assist India in its goal of imparting skill development knowledge to its citizens. In this regard, the  13 MoUs between the National Skill Development Council of India and 13 Canadian colleges, institutes, and Sector Skills Councils in the fields of agriculture, apparel and textiles, automotive, aviation, construction, green economy, healthcare, hydrocarbons, IT, telecom and electronics, sports sector, and water are the most welcome.

An option that can be explored in this regard is the establishment of offshore campuses in India. This would be in addition to developing relations between universities of the two nations. Both nations also need to actively encourage their respective institutions of higher education by establishing more centres of learning and providing generous scholarships to students and researchers pursuing research in either country.

Canadian assistance can also be sought to develop India’s indigenous education sector in order to meet its needs domestically. These include helping India increase the quantity of schools and training of teachers as well as improve the quality of instruction. Another option is the need to promote research collaboration. The importance of student and faculty exchanges – long-term or short-term – to strengthen education links between Canada and India and, in the process, to enrich the experiences of Canadians and Indians alike, cannot be denied and should be encouraged to continue and grow. 10 The relations would also benefit from the setting up of more Canada-India centres.

With millions Indian immigrants who call Canada home, it would be helpful to encourage a better understanding of the society of both countries and foster deeper relations. However, unlike their counterparts in the US, the Diaspora in Canada has not as yet played such a significant a role in boosting the Indo-Canadian bilateral relationship. One crucial reason is the different demographic character of the Diaspora. In Canada, unlike the US, the Diaspora is dominated by migrants from Punjab and there are differences on the issue of Khalistan, the role of some people from the Diasporas in the movement has caused differences between the Diaspora and India. It is hoped that Prime Minister Modi has been able to overcome this difference and focus on the need to play a role in the relationship. It is also hoped that the rising Gujrati Diaspora’s financial, professional and political success will be able to tilt the balance for India in Canada.

The appeal to the Indian Diaspora in Canada is part of the government’s policy to encourage them to invest in India’s development process. He stated that India has the capability to develop and find solution to its problems, but it needs partners to assist it. He called up on the Diaspora to become India’s partners. It needs to be now assessed if the Prime Minister’s appeal would yield tangible results. The appeal to the India Diaspora is also significant as its members are active in the political sphere of the country and India would need  Canada’s support to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group and other nuclear trade and export regimes as well as support for India’s bid for a seat at the United Nations Security Council. India is not just looking at the contribution of the Diaspora through FDI, remittances and the transfer of knowledge and entrepreneurial means. It wants to reach out to the Diaspora to play a leading role by contributing to the rise of the services sector in India, especially in the IT and ITES sectors. The approximately one million Canadians of Indian descent are an important foundation on which to encourage people-to-people links. They form community bridges between the two countries which reinforce the strong bonds between the two nations. The community of Canadians of Indian descent serves as an important base for exchange and for expanding bilateral commercial ties.

Following the economic reforms of the 1990s, India has slowly  transformed  itself  to  become an emerging power whose recent annual economic growth rates averaged eight per cent. Despite the ongoing global market turmoil, the Indian economy has done well.  A rapidly growing India, now the world's fastest growing large economy, will need raw materials, energy and expertise to build its manufacturing base and power its growth. Canada has these in abundance to offer and, thus, there is no reason why it shouldn't revive a long dormant relationship with India. Canada’s relations with India have become omni-directional, with nearly every sector providing the opportunity for cooperation. The short term challenges should not mask the long term opportunities that are readily apparent across so many sectors. 

* The Authoress is Research Fellow at the Indian Council of World Affairs, New Delhi.

1 ----, “Text of PM’s Media Statement during Joint Press Interaction with PM of Canada, Mr. Stephen Harper at Ottawa, Canada”,

http://www.narendramodi.in/text-of-pms-media-statement-during-joint-press-interaction-with-pm-of-canada-mr-stephen-harper-at-ottawa-canada/, Accessed on 10 April 2015.

2 Government of Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper , “India-Canada Joint Statement”,

http://pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2015/04/15/india-canada-joint-statement.

3 World Nuclear Association, “ Uranium in Canada”, Accessed on 17 December 2014, http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/Country-Profiles/Countries-A-F/Canada--Uranium/, Accessed on 10 April 2015 .

4 The Government of Canada, “The Canadian Nuclear Industry and its Economic Contributions”,

http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/uranium-nuclear/7715, Accessed on 17 December 2014 .

5 Government of Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, “India-Canada Joint Statement”, http://pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2015/04/15/india-canada-joint-statement, Accessed on 10 April 2015.

6 Ministry of External Affairs, “Prime Minister’s Media Statement during Joint Press Interaction in Ottawa, Canada”, http://mea.gov.in/Speeches-Statements.htm?dtl/2507, Accessed on 10 April 2014.

7 Government of Canada, Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada, Global Action Plan, “Priority Market India”, http://international.gc.ca/global-markets-marches-mondiaux/markets-marches/india-inde.aspx?lang=eng, Accessed on 10 April 2015.

8 Zee News, “Canada, India to Continue Talks On Economic, Financial Sector Policy”, http://zeenews.india.com/news/india/canada-india-to-continue-talks-on-economic-financial-sector-policy_1545429.html, Accessed on 10 April 2015.

9 Standing Senate Committee On Foreign Affairs And International Trade, Senate of Canada, “A Workplan

for Canada In The New Global Economy: Responding to The Rise of Russia, India and China”, http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/SEN/Committee/403/fore/rep/rep07jun10-e.pdf, Accessed on 10 April 2015.

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PM marks successful visit to Canada by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

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Modi ends three-day visit to Canada with protesters, supporters at temples

VANCOUVER -- India's prime minister has pronounced his watershed three-day visit to Canada a success, expressing hope in a parting toast that a new partnership has begun.

"Although India and Canada have so much in common, we were not in each others' thoughts for so many years," Narendra Modi said in a translated farewell speech Thursday night in Vancouver.

"But today it is my deep belief that not only we will be present in each other's thoughts, but also in our endeavours we will work together. We will be with each other."

The leader of the right-leaning majority Hindu nationalist party told a state dinner held by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and which drew B.C.'s premier and assorted Conservative MPs, that both countries have made progress on many issues.

"Barriers have turned into bridges," he said.

Modi is the first Indian prime minister in more than four decades to come for a one-on-one visit with his Canadian counterpart.

Modi said he was confident the bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement and the comprehensive economic partnership agreement would happen soon.

"By participating in India's development, you will also benefit. But by participating in the progress and prosperity of one-sixth of humanity, you will get immense happiness and satisfaction," he said.

"From 1.2 billion Indians to 1.2 million Canadians of Indian origin -- our very best wishes."

Modi's lightning-fast trip ushered him through Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver. He signed pledges to co-operate on civil aviation, education and health and buy 3,000 tonnes of Saskatchewan uranium, before paying homage to darker chapters of Indo-Canadian history.

The leader of the world's largest democracy earned effusive praise from supporters, who turned out in droves for his speech at a Toronto venue famous for rock shows, as well as Sikh and Hindu temples in Metro Vancouver.

But protesters raised their voices and placards outside every event he attended in B.C.

Bidding adieu to his ally, Harper said he wanted to publicly re-affirm a statement he's made to Modi in private.

"Make no mistake, the government of Canada and Canadians overwhelmingly support and will always standby the unity and strength of India in the world -- India will stay together," he said, eliciting cheers.

Earlier Thursday, Modi visited a more-than-century-old Sikh gurdwara in Vancouver, where he and Harper were presented with bright yellow scarfs and kirpans, ceremonial swords worn by baptized Sikhs.

Several dozen police officers were stationed outside, with snipers on the temple rooftop.

A protester who said his name was Ramandeep held a sign saying, Harper shame! Modi is a genocide perpetrator!

"He is a known butcher. His nickname is the Butcher of Gujarat," he said, referring to a 2002 riot that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people, mostly Muslims, while Modi was the chief minister in Gujarat state.

The two leaders also walked through an adjoining museum dedicated to nearly 400 Indians, mostly Sikhs, who arrived at Vancouver's harbour aboard the Komagata Maru in 1914 but were denied entry.

Modi then took the stage before hundreds of awe-struck revellers outside a Hindu mandir in Surrey.

Families with tiny children hooted, clapped and shielded their eyes from blinding sun during the short speech while waving paper India and Canadian flags.

A brass band prompted the crowds to sing "We love Modi. We love Harper."

Surrey resident Sanjeev, 50, who didn't give his last name, said he arrived hours early to see the famous politician.

"We were here since 10 in the morning and for these 15 minutes, we had to wait," he said.

Sikhs in Vancouver were at the forefront of a movement to create a separate Sikh homeland, to be carved out of the Indian state of Punjab. The situation boiled over in the 1980s, when 329 people were killed aboard an Air India flight originating in Vancouver when a planted bomb exploded mid-air near Ireland.

Modi's detractors say he should speak out about human rights violations in India against minority groups including Sikhs, Muslims and Christians.

Investigators blamed the largest mass murder in Canadian history on Sikh extremists in British Columbia.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, left, and Prime Minister Stephen Harper arrive at the Gurdwara Khalsa Diwan in Vancouver on Thursday, April 16, 2015. (Jonathan Hayward / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Narendra Modi Prime Minister of India are presented swords during a visit to the Gurdwara Khalsa Diwan in Vancouver, B.C. Wednesday, April 16, 2015. (Jonathan Hayward / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Narendra Modi Prime Minister of India are seem during a visit to the Gurdwara Khalsa Diwan in Vancouver, B.C. Thursday, April 16, 2015. (Jonathan Hayward / THE CANADIAN PRESS)

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• Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Canada: Day 2 --> Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Canada: Day 2 --> Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Canada: Day 2

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Canada: Day 2

April 16 th , was the second day of Shri Modi’s visit to Canada and final day of his three nation tour. Many events were lined up for the Prime Minister. He met various Canadian CEOs, bankers and leaders, paid a visit to the Air India Memorial and flew all the way to Vancouver with his Canadian counterpart.

At the Kanishka Air India Memorial, PM Modi remembered the people who lost their lives in the tragic plane crash in 1985.

We remember all those who lost their lives on board AI 182 in 1985. pic.twitter.com/IhsIxBhkeV — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 16, 2015

He also held meetings with various Canadian CEOs and leaders where he once again pitched for investments in India. Prior leaving for Vancouver, the PM tweeted a picture from the airport.

Saying goodbye to our friends while leaving for Vancouver. pic.twitter.com/7oLIqFJDsy — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 16, 2015

In Vancouver, PM Modi and PM Harper visited the Gurudwara Khalsa Diwan and Lakshmi Narain Temple. He praised the Sikh community who worked hard and earned the respect of the people of Canada.

In Vancouver, @pmharper & I prayed at the Gurudwara Khalsa Diwan. pic.twitter.com/Ovuoo0eza1 — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 16, 2015

Taking inspiration from Bhagat Singh, so many Sikh youngsters devoted themselves to the freedom struggle: PM @narendramodi in Vancouver — PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 16, 2015

Sikh community worked hard and earned the respect of the people of Canada. India is respected in Canada & this is due to your efforts: PM — PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 16, 2015

Wherever we are, let us do things that bring pride to our Nation: PM @narendramodi at Gurudwara Khalsa Diwan in Vancouver — PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 16, 2015

Vancouver: PM @narendramodi and @pmharper at the museum in the Gurudwara. pic.twitter.com/ehVpXN7Bh6 — PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 16, 2015

In remembrance of the Komagata Maru incident. pic.twitter.com/ur2wmviIKJ — PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 16, 2015

From the temple in Vancouver. pic.twitter.com/e6kw9ayuT0 — PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 17, 2015

Another picture from the Laxmi Narain temple in Vancouver. pic.twitter.com/ovSpmyAQEm — PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 17, 2015

A banquet was hosted in PM Modi‘s honour by the PM of Canada.

A picture from the Banquet hosted by @pmharper in honour of PM @narendramodi . pic.twitter.com/GnkFJM184d — PMO India (@PMOIndia) April 17, 2015

As Shri Narendra Modi left Canada, he was optimistic that India-Canada ties would be enhanced. He thanked PM Harper and the people of Canada for the hearty welcome Shri Modi received for the last two days.

I leave Canada with immense satisfaction. This visit will further enhance India-Canada ties. A big thanks to the people of Canada. — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 17, 2015

A special thanks to @pmharper - a fine host, a wonderful human being and a very dear friend. pic.twitter.com/HoMyB1hDdI — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 17, 2015

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Indian PM Narendra Modi’s visit to Canada stirs emotions in local diaspora

This article was published more than 9 years ago. Some information may no longer be current.

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi arrives in Ottawa for a state visit on Tuesday, April 14, 2015. One source from the Indo-Canadian business community said Mr. Modi’s primary concern on the trip was shoring up political support among the broader Indian diaspora. Justin Tang/The Canadian Press

Rattan Mall was a young student at Delhi University in 1973, when Indira Gandhi, the last Indian prime minister to visit Canada, conducted a dazzling tour that seemed to signal a new era of co-operation between the two countries.

Instead of a breakthrough, however, the bilateral relationship cooled dramatically in 1974, when India violated an accord by testing a nuclear bomb using plutonium produced by a CANDU reactor, and the connection was further strained in 1985, when Canadian-based extremists bombed Air India Flight 182.

Forty-two years after Ms. Gandhi's tour, Mr. Mall and many other Indo-Canadians are wondering if the promise offered then will be realized now by the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a controversial Hindu nationalist whose right-wing Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) swept to power in India last year.

His visit is stirring emotions within the Indian diaspora in Canada, raising hopes of increased trade and a blossoming strategic partnership, but also aggravating old political tensions within the Indo-Canadian population, which numbers more than one million.

Indian immigration to Canada began early in the 20th century, and expanded starting in the 1980s, with settlement mostly in Toronto and Metro Vancouver, although several other cities also attracted large South Asian communities.

Mr. Mall, a veteran journalist and editor of the Indo-Canadian Voice in Vancouver, said he was shocked when he first heard Mr. Modi was coming to Canada and would stop not just in Ontario but also in British Columbia, where there is a history of Sikh extremism.

"I couldn't believe it. This is such a hotbed of Khalistan stuff, although that has kind of died out now," he said, referring to the movement to create an independent Sikh state in Punjab.

Mr. Mall said there is a great deal of excitement, but also deep concerns surrounding the visit of Mr. Modi, who was the chief minister in the state of Gujarat when riots erupted in 2002, leaving some 2,000 Muslims dead. Since the election, his pro-business policies have won praise, but his failure to speak out against the persecution of minorities in India has brought criticism.

So what do Indo-Canadians think of him?

"The mistake mainstream media guys make is that they think the South Asian community is one whole. But it's badly splintered, every which way," Mr. Mall said of the feelings about Mr. Modi. "He received like a hero's welcome in the U.S., in New York and in Australia, and he'll be getting the same reception in Toronto [where there is a large Hindu population] … but in Vancouver it's more tightly scripted, for obvious reasons. They are not sure what the situation is here."

Kasi Rao, a member of the National Alliance of Indo-Canadians committee organizing Mr. Modi's appearance at Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto, where attendance has been limited to 8,000, said there is tremendous excitement about what many see as an historic event.

"The significance of this visit is this is truly a transformative visit in the Canada-India relationship," he said, predicting it will lead to increased economic and cultural linkages.

Mr. Rao said Mr. Modi has met in India with Canadian federal, provincial and municipal politicians in recent years and has a familiarity with this country that no Indian prime minister has ever had before. He is also leading the first majority government in decades and has a reputation for getting things done.

"And therefore the optimism the international business community feels for the prospect for reform is grounded in political reality," Mr. Rao said. He said optimism "resonates at an emotional level with the diaspora as well," and that explains why Mr. Modi's visit is generating such a buzz.

Vinay Sharma, vice-president of the Vedic Hindu Cultural Society, which is hosting a speech by Mr. Modi at the Laxmi Narayan mandir, a Hindu temple in Surrey, B.C., said they were overwhelmed with the response when people were asked to preregister for the event. The 5,000 tickets were taken in three days.

"Especially for the people of Indian origin, this is very important," he said of Mr. Modi's visit. "It will better the relationship between Canada and India, for sure. I can see that this is going to be a huge, huge transformation whatever is being done between Canada and India."

Gurpreet Singh, a popular broadcaster on Spice Radio, agrees Mr. Modi will draw big crowds – but says not everyone will be a fan.

"He comes with that political baggage and there's a lot of anxiety in our community, especially among minorities in India," he said. "Ever since his government has come to power, minorities feel intimidated, especially the Muslims and Christians. So he's coming here and obviously there will be some protests… There are a lot of people coming together to show their anger and their dissent … we'll be seeing a lot of fireworks."

Mr. Singh said Mr. Modi will be able to win over some critics if he reduces a so-called blacklist that restricts travel to India by anyone suspected of links to extremism, if he takes steps to protect the rights of minorities in India, and if he acknowledges past atrocities against Sikhs.

Palbinder Kaur Shergill, a B.C. lawyer and legal counsel for the World Sikh Organization, said she hopes the visit will open a dialogue about more than trade.

"There was a recent spate of attacks against churches in the New Delhi area, and one of the church priests said there was not even an acknowledgement by the government that the attacks had occurred. So there is certainly a belief amongst many people that [Mr. Modi's] silence can be interpreted as acquiescence," she said. "What I'd like to see and what many others would like to see is for Prime Minister Stephen Harper to actually raise these concerns."

Aditya Tawatia, B.C. president of the Overseas Friends of BJP, said he hopes Mr. Modi's critics will set aside their differences and celebrate the visit for the economic opportunities it presents. "This is a very important moment for both countries," he said. "This is a big milestone, a turning point, a titanic shift in the relationship of both countries."

Mr. Tawatia, whose organization supported the BJP election campaign in India and worked for years promoting a visit, was asked if it marks a breakthrough in the often wary relationship between the two countries. "Definitely it is," he said. "This is the time we've been waiting for."

Dave Hayer, a former Liberal MLA, said it is "very significant" that an Indian prime minister is visiting after a 42-year absence. "It's been too long," he said. "I think with that long gap both countries are equally at fault. We should have done a better job of keeping our relationship close."

B.C. Finance Minister Michael de Jong, who has made nine trips to India, sees Mr. Modi's visit as a sign that the importance Canada attaches to the bilateral relationship "is now being reciprocated." He said the trade opportunities for Canada in the huge India market are obvious, but if a new, more open and prosperous partnership is to develop, leaders in both countries will have to continue working long after the speeches and state dinner are over.

"There undoubtedly is excitement," Mr. de Jong said of the visit, "but here's the challenge we have to overcome, and I'll speak rather bluntly. The cultural ties between the countries are very, very strong, have been, continue to be. The challenge we both face is to convert that incredibly strong cultural link into a more powerful economic link."

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Modi State Visit Modi Promotes India to Congress After Meeting With Biden

Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized his country’s development and played up what he described as commonalities with the U.S. Earlier, he ducked a question about his government’s treatment of minorities.

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Modi Praises ‘Limitless’ Potential of U.S.-India Partnership

In a speech to congress, prime minister narendra modi of india promoted his nation’s development and said the relationship between his country and the united states was important for democracy’s future..

The U.S. is the oldest — and India, the largest — democracy. Our partnership augurs well for the future of democracy. [cheers] Together, we shall give a better future to the world and a better world to the future. Everyone wants to understand India’s development, democracy and diversity. Everyone wants to know what India is doing right and how. We are not only growing bigger, but we are also growing faster. When India grows, the whole world grows. I can go on and go on. But to summarize I would say: The scope of our cooperation is endless, the potential of our synergy is limitless and the chemistry of our relations is effortless.

Peter Baker

Biden welcomes India’s prime minister despite concerns over human rights.

President Biden emphasized common ground with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India on Thursday during a lavish state visit meant to bolster ties with the world’s most populous nation, while largely skirting points of friction over human rights and Russia’s war in Ukraine, at least in public.

After a pomp-filled, red-carpet arrival ceremony, Mr. Biden and Mr. Modi announced a range of initiatives to advance cooperation in technology, energy and military hardware but revealed no movement toward each other on the areas of disagreement that have strained the relationship in recent months, most especially Ukraine.

In a modest but notable breakthrough, however, Mr. Biden coaxed Mr. Modi into taking questions from reporters at a news conference, apparently the first time he has done so in his nearly decade-long tenure .

Here’s what else to know:

Challenged on his record on human rights and religious freedom, Mr. Modi insisted that democracy was “in India’s DNA” and denied that his government had engaged in discrimination based on race, faith or other such distinctions. Mr. Modi’s government has cracked down on dissent and hounded opponents in a way that has raised fears of an authoritarian turn not seen since India’s slip into dictatorship in the 1970s. In hosting Mr. Modi, Mr. Biden is pushing democracy concerns to the background .

The United States is trying to draw India closer , as the urgency for improved relations has intensified with Russia’s war on Ukraine. India has maintained military and economic relations with Russia, buying up Russian oil at a discount and staying away from backing United Nations resolutions that have condemned Russia’s aggression.

Mr. Modi gave an address to a joint session of Congress where he promoted his country’s development and played up what he described as common themes with the United States.

The two leaders announced initiatives advancing cooperation on telecommunications, semiconductors, artificial intelligence and other areas. Mr. Modi agreed to sign the Artemis Accords — principles governing peaceful exploration of the moon, Mars and other celestial bodies — and they will announce a joint mission to the International Space Station in 2024. The United States and India also will open additional consulates in each other’s country.

Tonight, the Bidens will host Mr. Modi for a state dinner on the South Lawn. The vegetarian menu — in accordance with Mr. Modi’s diet — includes an optional fish entree. The first course will be a marinated millet and grilled corn kernel salad with compressed watermelon and avocado sauce, followed by a main course of stuffed portobello mushrooms and creamy saffron-infused risotto.

Suhasini Raj

Indian television heaps praise on Modi during his trip.

“Super King of Diplomacy,” read the ticker placed in bold on top of one news channel. “Long live our friendship,” said another. A third declared, “The Boss in America.”

Mainstream Indian news channels — in Hindi, English and some regional languages — covered Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reception in Washington with adulation, praising his diplomatic skills for millions of viewers before a crucial election year for him.

The visuals from Washington played into what Mr. Modi has already set as one of his main campaign themes: tying India’s rise as a major economic power with his rise as a global statesman.

“The scale, the splendor, the warmth,” one headline enthused. Others, such as “Modi’s breakthrough diplomacy” and “Watch history being made,” flooded Indians’ homes Thursday evening as Mr. Modi walked the red carpet to meet President Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden.

“Their body language reflected that they were incomplete without one another,” one news anchor said as visuals of the two leaders shaking hands played on the screen.

Mr. Modi has carefully crafted his relationship with traditional news outlets, using a mix of incentives and pressure tactics to get most of them on his side.

When uncomfortable issues arise — a state election loss, an ethnic war resulting in weeks of unrest and bloodshed in a northeastern state, a deadly three-way train crash — they are quick to deflect blame away from Mr. Modi.

And when a major moment like the state visit to Washington comes, they are happy to join in the cheerleading — a factor that, combined with how Mr. Modi’s party has mastered social media to take his messages viral, helps explain Mr. Modi’s talent for shaping politics to his benefit.

The coverage of Mr. Modi’s visit to the United States is a political boon, setting the agenda in his favor before he launches himself full-time into campaign mode for parliamentary elections next year.

While many channels showed the White House dinner menu ad nauseam, calling it “dinner for friendship,” some others waxed eloquent about the importance of the gifts Mr. Modi had carried for the Bidens. One anchor declared of a military deal between the two countries: “The biggest defense deal. The hearts of enemies will burn!”

And when, at his news conference with Mr. Biden, Mr. Modi skirted a question on India’s grim human rights record and suppression of free speech, one Hindi-language news anchor came to his rescue on her show, saying he had “very bravely” faced the question.

Lisa Friedman

The U.S. and India agree to speed deployment of electric buses.

The United States and India have long been at odds over the responsibility of different countries in tackling climate change. But as Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrapped up a visit to Washington, he and President Biden cast their nations as partners in the fight.

As Mr. Biden declared climate change an “existential threat to humanity” during a joint news conference on Thursday, Mr. Modi pledged that India was working to become a green energy hub. Both governments also announced plans to help India increase the production of electric vehicles and meet its ambitious goal of installing 500 gigawatts of wind, solar and other renewable energy this decade.

The Biden administration did not announce any direct U.S. funding for India. But senior administration officials said the governments had agreed on a plan they believed would encourage banks to give loans for electric buses, which are seen as a high-risk investment in India.

India aims to deploy 50,000 public electric buses over the next five years. The plan includes establishing three months of delayed payments so that companies can secure loans at lower rates. Biden administration officials said the payment security plan will help underwrite at least 10,000 electric buses.

The United States and India also announced a separate investment plan that officials said will be joined by private companies and others that aims to lower the cost of capital and attract international private finance for large-scale renewable energy projects. The joint announcement billed it a “first of its kind, multibillion dollar” package but no specific dollar figure from the United States or any other country or organization was announced.

Katie Rogers

Guests just started arriving at the White House for the state dinner. Some of the more notable names include Huma Abedin, a former senior adviser to Hillary Clinton; the designer Reem Acra; Apple’s Tim Cook; Hunter and Ashley Biden; and the president’s brother, James.

Alex Travelli and Mujib Mashal

Reporting from New Delhi

One accomplishment of Modi’s visit? Greater defense cooperation between India and the U.S.

One of the biggest takeaways from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit might be that it has injected new momentum into defense cooperation between the United States and India, a slow and turbulent undertaking in the past.

The two sides announced a deal for coproduction in India of engines for fighter aircraft, a $3 billion purchase of about 30 American Reaper drones by India, and a road map to expand cooperation between the two countries’ defense industries. There were also agreements on intelligence sharing and on space-based, quantum and other strategic technologies.

For the Biden administration, helping India expand its defense manufacturing tracks with its efforts to further isolate Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine . India has long relied on Russia for a majority of its military equipment, and any increase in manufacturing capability at home or diversification of its arms sources would lessen its purchases from Russia.

For India, the United States’ latest efforts to improve defense ties is in line with its attempt to grow its domestic manufacturing and reduce its reliance on foreign partners.

India’s military forces have stuck to most of the same weapons systems that they began using during the Cold War. India was neutral but tended to side more closely with the Soviet Union. Indian officials have said their dependence on Russian weapons over the decades was simply out of necessity: The U.S. long held back on sales of military equipment to India, and that has only started to change over the past two decades. As a result, the Indian armed forces still use equipment of Soviet design and specifications. Parts cannot be swapped out, piecemeal, for American-standard weaponry. In some rare cases, as with India’s use of Lockheed’s C-130 Hercules transport plane, a stand-alone American platform can be soldered onto the existing framework. But for the most part, the systems are not interoperable.

Technical challenges aside, one thing that the defense road map seems to be addressing is the reluctance that has kept the world’s biggest two democracies from seeing eye-to-eye. They have a long history of disagreement, over matters including Pakistan, Iraq and United Nations votes. But tensions with China are bringing them to the same table, especially after Indian and Chinese troops started clashing along their Himalayan border in 2020.

Australia and Japan, the other members of the fledgling security bloc aimed at containing China around the “Indo-Pacific region” (as the Americans renamed it, to include the Indian Ocean, in 2018), have long-established military partnerships and even alliances with the United States.

The “ Roadmap for U.S.-India Defense Industrial Cooperation ,” published earlier this month, illustrates the American goal of making India into something more like a formidable ally — and the Indian goal of beefing up its own capabilities. They find common cause in trying to “cooperatively produce the systems required to meet India’s military modernization objectives.”

But India’s ties with Russia are deep and cannot be undone quickly or with good will alone. Ajai Shukla, a retired colonel with the Indian Army who writes extensively about defense, is skeptical that America will find any durable role to play. He recalls how Alexander Kadakin, a Russian ambassador to India, liked to tell the story about visiting the Indian space centers and feeling more at home there than he did in Russia — because so many of the scientists were speaking Russian.

Karoun Demirjian

Modi waves to crowd in the third floor gallery, who stuck around to cheer him as he slowly makes his way toward the exit. Emphasis on slowly. He stopped for more autographs and pictures on the way out.

He texted from the speech to say that he “appreciated PM Modi’s unequivocal statement that India must be home to all faiths and celebrate all of them.” But he added that “American leaders need to also have the difficult conversations with Indian leaders about protecting minority rights, an open press and open internet.”

At the White House, some 400 guests are going to pass by reporters to attend the dinner. One of the guests is Representative Ro Khanna, Democrat of California, who played a part in inviting Modi to give an address to Congress.

Here’s why Modi and many other Indian politicians stay single.

When President Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, take their place on the red carpet at the White House on Thursday to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, there will be an asymmetry of sorts in the picture-perfect setting.

Mr. Modi will go stag.

While a family-centric image is often a political selling point in the United States, in India, many top leaders — the prime minister among them — are proudly unattached, to make a statement that no other commitment can come between them and the nation.

Work-life balance? Not for politicians in the world’s largest democracy, who stay busy attending to the needs of 1.4 billion people and compete with one another in their declarations of sleep deprivation. (Mr. Modi clocks only four hours of slumber a night, his aides say.)

“Every moment of my time, every pore of my body, is only for my countrymen,” the prime minister said in 2019 after winning re-election .

India may seem a strange place for expressions of solitary political devotion. Here, family comes before self and arranged marriages keep families together. Nearly a third of new members of Parliament have had a relative in elected office or a prominent party position, according to one study .

But in a country tired of official corruption, with lawmakers enriching themselves and their families and ensuring political futures for their children, many voters have come to believe that single politicians are less likely to steal.

“The very strong perception,” said Ajoy Bose, a journalist and author, “is that they have no personal interest. That they belong to the people.”

Modi is sticking around in the well of the chamber to shake hands and sign autographs after the speech. In the gaggle of lawmakers around him are Representatives Shri Thanedar, Democrat of Michigan who was born in India; Mike Lawler, Republican of New York; Brad Sherman, Democrat of California; and Joe Wilson, Republican of South Carolina. Modi seems to be enjoying the attention and is not in a rush to leave the chamber -- though his security detail is trying to gently nudge him out.

As Modi makes his way out of the House chamber, he is stopped by members asking him to autograph their printed copies of his remarks.

Alex Travelli

India’s economy is already a star, but Modi wants the attention of American businesses and investors.

NEW DELHI — The state visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India is full of eye-catching moments — practicing yoga outside the United Nations building in New York and addressing a joint session of Congress — that seem designed to burnish both India’s image on the world stage and his own image at home.

Apart from impressing voters back home and his fellow statesmen, Mr. Modi is hoping to get the attention of American businesses and investors.

India’s expanding economy is already in some ways a star. It displaced Britain as the world’s fifth biggest economy last year, and is on track to outpace both Germany and Japan in the decade ahead. The value of the companies listed on its stock markets are worth $3.3 trillion, more than ever before, and Mr. Modi’s government has tackled some challenges that have long stymied Indian growth, including rickety infrastructure and banks burdened with bad loans.

Foreign investors have taken notice, especially with much of the world’s economy looking shaky. A string of high-tech, high-value companies have flocked to India this year, with Apple and possibly Tesla making it known that they see a big future here.

But there are ominous signs, too. While foreign investment has been pouring in and the government has spent heavily on roads, energy and other public goods, private Indian investment has shrunk in proportion to the whole. And the incomes of average Indians have hardly budged in recent years, with most of the country still dependent on farming and many others working in jobs that barely keep them fed.

Indian and American policymakers and businessmen have been trying to devise ways that the United States could help India meet the moment — through a combination of trade, technology transfer, labor mobility and integration with global supply chains.

India’s trade with the United States is worth about $190 billion now, Atul Keshap, a former American ambassador to New Delhi who is president of the U.S.-India Business Council, said in an online discussion this week. It should soon be worth $500 billion, he argued, on par with the size of the U.S. trade relationships with only a few others: Canada, Mexico, the European Union and China.

The relationship could be boosted by the two countries’ altered relationships with China, not only in geopolitics, but also in civilian business and trade. American companies and political leaders are eyeing India — with its 1.4 billion people, same as China — as the sole country fit to shoulder some of the immense weight that China has carried in the world economy. “It’s a lot easier to invest $100 million in a country with 1.4 billion people than in a country with 40 million people,” said Cate Ambrose, chief executive of the Global Private Capital Association, an industry group focused on emerging markets.

With much of the world’s economy hindered by the war in Ukraine, inflation and other headwinds, the Indian economy’s power increasingly stands out. This week, Airbus, a European airplane-maker, signed deal to sell 500 aircraft to IndiGo, a low-cost Indian carrier founded in 2006. It is the kind of contract that American leaders dream of winning for the U.S. airplane giant Boeing.

Indians’ median incomes may be stagnant, even as gains made by wealthier people have brought the per capita income up to $1,200 a year. But the room for growth makes the country attractive as a consumer market. Last year, for example, 123 million passengers flew between India’s airports. The government’s goal is to reach 1 billion by 2040.

A new emphasis in the U.S.-India relationship is high-value manufacturing, and an initiative on emerging technologies has brought together government agencies from both countries to speed up cooperation on microchips, satellites and artificial intelligence. The White House argues that these projects, which sidestep bilateral trade negotiations, should help foster “resilient supply chains” for both countries.

Damien Cave

One of the things that makes Modi an interesting kind of popular leader in our current global moment might be his optimistic tone. He speaks of positive momentum, success and destiny more than flaws and enemies.

Mujib Mashal

As we wrote in our recent story about his role as a radio host, Modi has many avatars for keeping himself intimately omnipresent across India’s vastness — including that of a poet. He has written poetry in Gujarati, though he was reading a Hindi poem just now.

Congressional addresses often end with poetic language, but not usually poetry. After quoting the poem Amanda Gorman read at President Biden’s inauguration, Modi recited lines in Hindi that he penned himself.

On China, Modi has always been careful to avoid escalating tensions. When tensions at the India-China border escalated to bloody skirmishes, American diplomats were saying Modi’s government was not comfortable with U.S. officials mentioning China by name in statements made out of New Delhi.

A policy proposal from Modi, as he calls for the African Union to get full membership in the G20. (The speech so far has been big on promoting accomplishments but light on articulating demands for change.)

As Peter notes, the omissions of the words “Russia” and “China” show how carefully Modi is choosing his words as he supports the spirit of the U.S. position, while clearly signaling that India is not going to take a side in these geopolitical rivalries.

The technology transfer piece of the defense deal reflects not just improved U.S.-India ties, but also a major shift in how the United States works with allies in the Indo-Pacific. Australia is getting nuclear-powered subs from America. Japan is buying American Tomahawk missiles. It’s all part of a broader effort to balance China’s military growth.

U.S.-India defense relations have had to overcome a history of deep mistrust rooted in both bureaucracies. But it feels like the countries are turning a new page. The American defense secretary and national security adviser were both in New Delhi in the weeks before Modi’s visit to Washington.

India’s ties to Russia stretch decades, and India still relies on Russia for a majority of its military equipment. So India has been careful in calling for peace and dialogue while staying away from condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

In discussing Ukraine, Modi calls for respecting U.N. principles of sovereignty, earning a standing ovation. He also said “we all must do what we can to stop the bloodshed and human suffering.” However, India continues to buy a lot of oil from Russia, engaging in a practice that the United States argues fuels the Russian war machine.

Likewise, when he discusses “the dark clouds of coercion and confrontation” that are “casting their shadow in the Indo-Pacific,” he leaves unstated who might be doing the coercing and confronting, never mentioning the word “China.”

When Modi mentions Ukraine, he shifts to passive construction. “With the Ukraine conflict, war has returned to Europe,” he said, without mentioning the word “Russia.”

Zolan Kanno-Youngs

Reporting from Washington

State Dinners: Who Gets Them, Who Doesn’t and Why They Matter

As President Biden welcomed India’s prime minister to the White House , the two leaders were looking for more than a fine vegetarian meal and a night of glitzy entertainment.

Under the guise of pomp and pageantry, state visits are a chance for presidents to push foreign dignitaries to align with American interests. They can be a way to celebrate old, ironclad alliances . And with high-profile guest lists , multicourse meals and top-flight entertainment, they are much-coveted invites in Washington .

“These are not just dinners,” said Matthew Costello, a senior historian for the White House Historical Association. “There’s a lot more that goes into them in terms of planning, in terms of invitations, and a lot is geopolitics, a lot is foreign policy.”

When President Dwight D. Eisenhower invited Nikita Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union, to the White House in 1959, he was focused on thawing Cold War tensions after the launch of Sputnik. Before President Barack Obama hosted President Xi Jinping of China, the two countries negotiated for weeks over an arms control accord for cyberspace. President Ulysses S. Grant held the first state dinner for King David Kalakaua of Hawaii to strengthen trade.

The dinners can also provide a window into the regions the United States is prioritizing — and the ones being neglected.

European and Latin American nations have received the most state dinner invitations, while sub-Saharan African and Southeast Asian nations have received the fewest, according to a study by the Center for Global Development that tracked 40 years of state visits from the Carter to Obama administrations.

Out of 160 dinners, just 15 were with guests from sub-Saharan Africa, the study found.

“To be a foreign leader and not get the state dinner, you feel snubbed,” said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian. “It’s often the smaller countries in the world who don’t get them, but when you’re dealing with big power players like India, it’s a must.”

The invitation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India was not without controversy. Mr. Biden has made the global struggle between democracy and autocracy a key part of his foreign policy, but Mr. Modi’s government has cracked down on dissent in ways that have raised fears of authoritarianism.

Still, the White House views the world’s most populous nation as a potentially welcome addition to its coalition against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as a crucial player in its growing economic competition with China.

The other nations whose leaders received the official invitation to dine with Mr. Biden — France and South Korea — have also been partners in Mr. Biden’s effort to confront Russia.

The state dinner can sometimes be a means of smoothing over hiccups among allies.

Mr. Biden hosted President Emmanuel Macron of France for the first state visit of his administration, more than a year after the two nations feuded over a deal to provide Australians with nuclear-powered submarines. Mr. Biden invited Anthony Albanese, the prime minister of Australia, for a state visit after he canceled a trip there in May because of negotiations over the debt ceiling with congressional Republicans.

“There are multiple times we see presidents using these visits to not just describe immediate concerns, but also to talk through short-term and long-term solutions,” Mr. Costello said.

Domestic politics often hang over the dinner, as well.

Julianna Smoot, Mr. Obama’s social secretary from 2010 to 2011, said she made sure to invite the often-feuding majority and minority leaders of the Senate, Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell, to state dinners for a rare détente. Governors and mayors who had previously expressed support or campaigned for the president were likely to make the list. And the primary donors of presidential campaigns could expect an invitation, particularly if they had business connections to the visiting nation.

“They didn’t become donors in politics because they were slouches,” Ms. Smoot said. “A lot of them do international work and have an interest” in attending the dinner.

The prospect of strengthening political partnerships overseas and within U.S. borders was usually enough to get a quick response from invitees.

“You’re supposed to say yes,” Ms. Smoot said of responding to the invitations, “unless there’s a death in the family.”

Cheers and laughs for Modi’s hat tip to how well Indian American kids have done in successive national spelling bees.

Mentioning that the United States “has become one of our most important defense partners” gets a standing ovation. Not mentioned: India still buys weapons from Russia.

Another thought on Modi’s sales pitch. William Dalrymple, the esteemed historian of India’s past empires, told me recently that India’s sense of overconfidence might be its biggest problem at the moment, hindering the country’s ability to fully confront and solve the enormous challenges it faces, like youth unemployment and social, economic and religious divides.

Very true, Karoun. Not much love for digital payments here in a chamber that has struggled with how to regulate technology of any kind!

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Joint Statement from India and the United   States

1.           Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed United States President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., to India today, reaffirming the close and enduring partnership between India and the United States.  The leaders expressed their appreciation for the substantial progress underway to implement the ground breaking achievements of Prime Minister Modi’s historic, June 2023, visit to Washington. 2.           The leaders called on their governments to continue the work of transforming the India-U.S. Strategic Partnership across all dimensions of our multifaceted global agenda, based on trust and mutual understanding.  The leaders re-emphasized that the shared values of freedom, democracy, human rights, inclusion, pluralism, and equal opportunities for all citizens are critical to the success our countries enjoy and that these values strengthen our relationship.  3.           President Biden lauded India’s G20 Presidency for further demonstrating how the G20 as a forum is delivering important outcomes.  The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the G20 and expressed confidence that the outcomes of the G20 Leaders’ Summit in New Delhi will advance the shared goals of accelerating sustainable development, bolstering multilateral cooperation, and building global consensus around inclusive economic policies to address our greatest common challenges, including fundamentally reshaping and scaling up multilateral development banks. 4.           Prime Minister Modi and President Biden reaffirmed the importance of the Quad in supporting a free, open, inclusive, and resilient Indo-Pacific.  Prime Minister Modi looked forward to welcoming President Biden to the next Quad Leaders’ Summit to be hosted by India in 2024.  India welcomed the U.S. decision to co-lead the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative Pillar on Trade Connectivity and Maritime Transport, further to the U.S. decision to join IPOI in June 2023. 5.           Continuing to share the view that global governance must be more inclusive and representative, President Biden reaffirmed his support for a reformed UN Security Council with India as a permanent member, and, in this context, welcomed once again India’s candidature for the UNSC non-permanent seat in 2028-29.  The leaders once again underscored the need to strengthen and reform the multilateral system so it may better reflect contemporary realities and remain committed to a comprehensive UN reform agenda, including through expansion in permanent and non-permanent categories of membership of the UN Security Council. 6.           Prime Minister Modi and President Biden reaffirmed technology’s defining role in deepening our strategic partnership and lauded ongoing efforts through the India-U.S. Initiative on Critical and Emerging Technology (iCET) to build open, accessible, secure, and resilient technology ecosystems and value chains, based on mutual confidence and trust, which reinforce our shared values and democratic institutions.  The United States and India intend to undertake a midterm review of iCET in September 2023 to continue to drive momentum toward the next annual iCET review, co-led by the National Security Advisors of both countries, in early 2024. 7.           President Biden congratulated Prime Minister Modi and the scientists and engineers of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Chandrayaan-3’s historic landing at the south polar region of the Moon, as well as the successful launch of India’s first solar mission, Aditya-L1.  Having set a course to reach new frontiers across all sectors of space cooperation, the leaders welcomed efforts towards establishment of a Working Group for commercial space collaboration under the existing India-U.S. Civil Space Joint Working Group.  Determined to deepen our partnership in outer space exploration, ISRO and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have commenced discussions on modalities, capacity building, and training for mounting a joint effort to the International Space Station in 2024, and are continuing efforts to finalise a strategic framework for human space flight cooperation by the end of 2023.  India and the United States also intend to increase coordination on planetary defence to protect planet Earth and space assets from the impact of asteroids and near-Earth objects, including U.S.  support for India’s participation in asteroid detection and tracking via the Minor Planet Center. 8.           The leaders reiterated their support for building resilient global semiconductor supply chains, noting in this respect a multi-year initiative of Microchip Technology, Inc., to invest approximately US$300 million in expanding its research and development presence in India and Advanced Micro Device’s announcement to invest US$400 million in India over the next five years to expand research, development, and engineering operations in India. The leaders expressed satisfaction at the ongoing implementation of announcements made in June 2023 by U.S. companies, Micron, LAM Research, and Applied Materials.  9.           Sharing a vision of secure and trusted telecommunications, resilient supply chains, and global digital inclusion, Prime Minister Modi and President Biden welcomed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Bharat 6G Alliance and Next G Alliance, operated by Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions, as a first step towards deepening public-private cooperation between vendors and operators. They further acknowledged the setting-up of two Joint Task Forces focused on collaboration in the field of Open RAN and research and development in 5G/6G technologies.  A 5G Open RAN pilot in a leading Indian telecom operator will be undertaken by a U.S. Open RAN manufacturer before field deployment.  The leaders continue to look forward to the participation of Indian companies in the U.S. Rip and Replace Program; President Biden also welcomed India’s support for a Rip and Replace pilot in the United States. 10.        The United States reiterated its commitment to working together with India in the quantum domain, both bilaterally and through the Quantum Entanglement Exchange, a platform to facilitate international quantum exchange opportunities; and welcomed the participation of India’s S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata, as a member of the Quantum Economic Development Consortium.  It was also recognized that the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay joined the Chicago Quantum Exchange as an international partner. 11.        The leaders hailed the signing of an Implementation Arrangement between the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and India’s Department of Biotechnology to enable scientific and technological research collaborations in biotechnology and biomanufacturing innovations.  They welcomed the call for proposals released by NSF and India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to foster academic and industrial collaboration in semiconductor research, next generation communication systems, cyber-security, sustainability and green technologies, and intelligent transportation systems. 12.        Reaffirming their commitment to building resilient technology value chains and linking defence industrial ecosystems, the leaders recommitted their administrations to promoting policies and adapting regulations that facilitate greater technology sharing, co-development, and co-production opportunities between Indian and U.S.  industry, government and academic institutions.  They also welcomed continued engagement through an inter-agency monitoring mechanism under the auspices of the bilateral Strategic Trade Dialogue, launched in June 2023. 13.        The leaders welcomed the signing of an MoU between Indian universities, represented by the Council of Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT Council), and the Association of American Universities (AAU) to establish the India-U.S. Global Challenges Institute, with a combined initial commitment of at least US$10 million.  The Global Challenges Institute will bring together leading research and higher-education institutions from across our two nations, including beyond AAU and IIT membership, to advance new frontiers in science and technology, spanning collaboration in sustainable energy and agriculture, health and pandemic preparedness, semiconductor technology and manufacturing, advanced materials, telecommunications, artificial intelligence, and quantum science. 14.        The leaders also welcomed the growing number of multi-institutional collaborative education partnerships, such as those between New York University-Tandon and IIT Kanpur Advanced Research Center, and the Joint Research Centers of the State University of New York at Buffalo and IIT Delhi, Kanpur, Jodhpur, and BHU, in the areas of critical and emerging technologies. 15.        The leaders affirmed the importance of efforts to close the gender digital divide in the digital economy, noting a G20 commitment to halve the digital gender gap by 2030 and expressed support for the Women in the Digital Economy Initiative, which brings together governments, private sector companies, foundations civil society and multilateral organizations to accelerate progress toward the closure of the digital gender divide. 16.        Prime Minister Modi and President Biden reaffirmed their commitment to deepen and diversify the India-U.S. Major Defence Partnership through expanded cooperation in new and emerging domains such as space and AI, and accelerated defence industrial collaboration. 17.        The leaders welcomed completion of the Congressional Notification process on 29 August 2023 and the commencement of negotiations for a commercial agreement between GE Aerospace and Hindustan Aeronautical Limited (HAL) to manufacture GE F-414 jet engines in India, and recommitted to work collaboratively and expeditiously to support the advancement of this unprecedented co-production and technology transfer proposal. 18.        The leaders applauded the conclusion of a second Master Ship Repair Agreement, with the most recent agreement signed by the U.S. Navy and Mazgaon Dock Shipbuilders, Ltd., in August 2023.  Both sides recommitted to advancing India’s emergence as a hub for the maintenance and repair of forward-deployed U.S. Navy assets and other aircraft and vessels.  The leaders also welcomed further commitments from U.S. industry to invest more in India’s maintenance, repair, and overhaul capabilities and facilities for aircraft. 19.        The leaders commended the India-U.S. Defence Acceleration Ecosystem (INDUS-X) team for establishing a robust collaboration agenda to harness the innovative work of the U.S. and Indian defence sectors to address shared security challenges. INDUS-X convened the inaugural Academia Start-up Partnership at IIT Kanpur, with the participation of Penn State University, and initiated the Joint Accelerator Program for Indian Startups, through a workshop led by U.S. accelerator M/s Hacking 4 Allies (H4x) and IIT Hyderabad in August 2023. Both sides also welcomed the announcement by the Indian Ministry of Defence’s Innovations for Defence Excellence and the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit to launch two joint challenges, which will invite start-ups to develop solutions to shared defence technology challenges. 20.        President Biden welcomed the issuance of a Letter of Request from the Ministry of Defence of India to procure 31 General Atomics MQ-9B (16 Sky Guardian and 15 Sea Guardian) remotely piloted aircraft and their associated equipment, which will enhance the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities of India’s armed forces across all domains. 21.        Reiterating the importance of nuclear energy as a necessary resource to meet our nations’ climate, energy transition, and energy security needs, Prime Minister Modi and President Biden welcomed intensified consultations between the relevant entities on both sides to expand opportunities for facilitating India-U.S. collaboration in nuclear energy, including in development of next generation small modular reactor technologies in a collaborative mode. The United States reaffirmed its support for India’s membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group and committed to continue engagement with like-minded partners to advance this goal. 22.        The leaders welcomed the inaugural meeting of the India-U.S. Renewable Energy Technologies Action Platform [RE-TAP], in August 2023, under which the two countries will engage in lab-to-lab collaboration, piloting, and testing of innovative technologies; collaboration on policy and planning to advance renewable energy and enabling technologies; investment, incubation and outreach programmes; and training and skill development to accelerate the uptake and adoption of new and emerging renewable technologies and energy systems. 23.        Reiterating the importance of decarbonizing the transport sector, the leaders welcomed progress to expand electric mobility in India, including joint support for a payment security mechanism financed through both public and private funds. This will accelerate the procurement of 10,000 made-in India electric buses including those for the Indian PM e-Bus Sewa program that will include the associated charging infrastructure.  The two countries are committed to working together to help diversify the global supply chain for e-mobility. 24.        India and the United States are also advancing the creation of investment platforms to lower the cost of capital and accelerate the deployment of greenfield renewable energy, battery storage and emerging green technology projects in India. Towards this end, India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund and the U.S. Development Finance Corporation exchanged letters of interest to each provide up to US$500 million to anchor a renewable infrastructure investment fund. 25.        The leaders lauded the settlement of the seventh and last outstanding World Trade Organisation (WTO) dispute between India and the United States. This follows the unprecedented settlement of six outstanding bilateral trade disputes in the WTO in June 2023. 26.        The leaders welcomed efforts to develop an ambitious “Innovation Handshake” agenda under the India-U.S. Commercial Dialogue, to include two anchor events in the fall (one in India and one in the United States), in which our two sides will collaborate to bring together start-ups, private equity and venture capital firms, corporate investment departments, and government officials to forge connections between the two countries’ innovation ecosystems. 27.        The leaders welcomed our growing bilateral cooperation in cancer research, prevention, control, and management, and looked forward to the launch of the India-U.S. Cancer Dialogue in November 2023. This dialogue will focus on advancing knowledge in cancer genomics, developing new diagnostics and therapeutics to enhance and strengthen cancer care including for underserved urban and rural communities.  The leaders also highlighted the upcoming U.S.-India Health Dialogue, taking place in October 2023 in Washington, D.C., underscoring their joint commitment to strengthening and facilitating scientific, regulatory, and health cooperation between our two nations. 28.        The leaders welcomed the renewal of a Memorandum of Arrangement between the U.S. Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the Anthropological Survey of India (AnSI) to facilitate recovery from India of the remains of fallen U.S. service members who served in World War II. 29.        Prime Minister Modi and President Biden pledged to sustain the high-level of engagement between our governments, industries, and academic institutions and realize their ambitious vision for an enduring India-U.S. partnership that advances the aspirations of our people for a bright and prosperous future, serves the global good, and contributes to a free, open, inclusive, and resilient Indo-Pacific.

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Justin Trudeau India Visit Highlights: Canadian Prime Minister Visits Taj Mahal With Family

Canadian prime minister justin trudeau, who arrived in india last evening on a week-long visit, is traveling to agra today to visit the taj mahal. prime minister trudeau, who is accompanied by his wife and three children, left for agra from delhi at 9:00 am. he will be visiting the taj mahal at around 10:45 am, following which the canadian prime minister will return to delhi by 3:30 pm. justin trudeau, who is in india till february 25, will meet prime minister narendra modi on february 23..

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family visit the Taj Mahal.

Here are the Highlights of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau's visit to the Taj Mahal today:

For me to be able to be here on an official trip while bringing my kids with me to share this is really special and being able to enjoy this as a dad with my kids is really nice: Canadian Prime Minister #JustinTrudeau on his Taj Mahal visit pic.twitter.com/P1k3q9sUdZ - ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 18, 2018

Message by Canadian Prime Minister #JustinTrudeau in the visitor's book at Taj Mahal in Agra, pic.twitter.com/8ku5zb15FP - ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 18, 2018

#WATCH : PM of Canada #JustinTrudeau , along with his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and children Xavier, Ella-Grace & Hadrien at Taj Mahal in Agra. pic.twitter.com/DqnxoTqfni - ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) February 18, 2018

Wheels up for India and a busy visit, focused on creating good jobs and strengthening the deep connection between the people of our two countries. 🇨🇦🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/Jg6UmL9y4S - Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) February 16, 2018

Strategic partnership underpinned by shared values of democracy and pluralism! Namaste to the Right Honorable @JustinTrudeau , Prime Minister of Canada as he arrives on the State visit to India from 17-24 February, 2018. pic.twitter.com/hcPSLDm0kx - Raveesh Kumar (@MEAIndia) February 17, 2018

A high point for the High Commissioner to receive the Prime Minister of Canada on Indian soil. Aparna and I were delighted to welcome Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau at AFS Palam pic.twitter.com/f7ONqRZL0d - Vikas Swarup (@VikasSwarup) February 17, 2018

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What’s behind Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s US visit?

The US is seeking stronger ties with India, which it sees as a vital ally in efforts to contain China’s rise.

The administration of United States President Joe Biden is scheduled to host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an official visit later this week, as the two countries strengthen their ties amid shared antipathy towards China’s growing influence.

The White House will hold a state dinner in Modi’s honour on June 22, a sign of the burgeoning relationship between the two powers who have stepped up cooperation in areas such as trade and arms sales.

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In a press release, the Biden administration said that a recent trip to New Delhi by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan “underscored the dynamism of the US-India partnership in advance of Prime Minister Modi’s historic official state visit next week to the United States”.

But human rights groups say the celebratory dinner is a de facto endorsement of India’s far-right turn under Modi’s leadership — and undermines the Biden administration’s stated goal of emphasising human rights and democracy in its foreign policy.

During Modi’s tenure, India’s Muslims and other minorities have experienced an uptick in violence and repression as the government leans into a form of Hindu nationalism known as Hindutva . Modi has also been criticised for seeking to consolidate power and crack down on dissent.

“A state dinner is a special occasion; it’s not something that just any foreign leader receives,” Edward Mitchell, the deputy executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), told Al Jazeera over a phone call.

“How can the White House honour a leader who is an open anti-Muslim bigot, a right-wing ideologue who censors journalists and turns a blind eye to lynchings? You can work with India and Modi without taking this extra step to celebrate him.”

Confronting China

While advocacy groups have called for greater scrutiny of India’s human rights record , foreign policy experts say the Biden administration is primarily interested in the country as a potential counterweight to China, which the US sees as its most formidable global competitor.

Sarang Shidore, Director of Studies and Senior Research Fellow at the Quincy Institute, a US-based think tank, told Al Jazeera that he believes the US-India relationship will continue to grow as long as their shared concern over China remains in place.

“The United States does not conduct its foreign policy based on democracy and human rights. It conducts its foreign policy based on its interests, as all states do,” Shidore said.

China’s growing military power and assertive territorial claims have become a source of concern for nearby Asian countries such as the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan and India. The US has worked to fashion alliances with many of those countries in an attempt to contain China’s expanding influence.

“No question, there is increased Chinese nationalism,” said Shidore. “And China sees India as an increasing challenge due to its relationship with the US.”

Expanding ties

That was not always the case. During the Cold War, India’s relations with the US were often frosty. The country had cultivated close ties with the USSR and helped spearhead the Non-Aligned Movement, an organisation of countries that rejected pressures to join either pro-US or pro-Soviet blocs.

For its part, the US was a key ally of Pakistan. And by the early 1970s, the administration of US President Richard Nixon started to build a cooperative relationship with China, as an attempt, in part, to place pressure on the USSR.

But as the Cold War ended and China’s economic rise became a preoccupation of US foreign policy, India — with its size and economic heft — started to be seen as a key regional ally.

Despite its improved ties with the US, however, India has continued to resist what it sees as a false choice between the US and countries like President Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

But as Russia wages war in Ukraine and Washington seeks to isolate Moscow economically and diplomatically, that balancing act has become more difficult for India to maintain.

While India has increased its purchase of weapons from countries such as France and the US and recently agreed on a roadmap to increase cooperation with the US defence industry, it remains the world’s largest importer of Russian arms.

India has also joined China in buying up Russian oil at discounted prices, while the US and the European Union angle to limit Russia’s power in the global energy market.

But Shidore said that India’s status as a central player in Washington’s Asia strategy gives it significant leverage . Its ties to Russia are not likely to get in the way of its relationship with the US, he explained.

“India has played this quite well, playing Russia and the US off each other, and has benefitted in the process,” he said. “A country like India, which has such a strong convergence with the US on China, can create major spaces where it will differ very strongly from the US and can ride that out.”

Consolidating control

While US relations with allies such as Saudi Arabia and Israel have come under political scrutiny in recent years, Modi’s trip to the US has been welcomed with bipartisan support. An a joint letter inviting Modi to address Congress during his visit, members of the US House of Representatives and Senate have hailed the visit as a sign of the “enduring friendship” between the two countries.

“During your address, you will have the opportunity to share your vision for India’s future and speak to the global challenges our countries both face,” the letter reads.

However, Modi’s human rights record has not gone entirely unremarked. On Tuesday, a group of more than 70 lawmakers from the US House and Senate penned a letter to the Biden urging him to discuss concerns about religious freedom and journalistic expression in his talks with Modi.

The Muslim rights group CAIR, meanwhile, has issued a statement calling on the White House to drop its plans for a state dinner.

Modi’s high-profile reception in the US is a far cry from what he experienced before he was first elected prime minister in 2014. Prior to becoming India’s leader, Modi had been banned from entering the US due to allegations that he turned a blind eye to anti-Muslim violence in the western Indian state of Gujarat in 2002, when he was the province’s chief minister.

The deadly 2002 riots were the subject of a BBC documentary that Modi tried to ban in January, invoking his emergency powers as prime minister. The rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch screened the documentary in Washington on Tuesday.

Human rights groups say the move to ban the film was representative of a larger effort under Modi to stifle dissent and exercise control over independent institutions. They also accuse his government of pursuing an agenda influenced by far-right Hindu nationalism.

In an annual report on religious freedom in May, the US State Department expressed concern about the situation in India, noting that there were “open calls for genocide against Muslims”, lynchings and “attacks on places of worship”.

In May, for the fourth year in a row, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom called on the State Department to designate India as a “country of particular concern”.

In some states controlled by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), politicians who lean into violent anti-Muslim rhetoric face little reprimand. Some Hindu nationalist paramilitaries have also waged a campaign against interfaith marriages , which they portray as an effort to dilute the Hindu population and win converts to Islam through “love jihad”.

Shidore, however, said that Modi’s human rights record has been quickly “papered over” and is unlikely to prevent cooperation with the US, so long as China remains a serious global competitor.

“The United States”, he said, “has set human rights issues aside in order to strengthen ties”.

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PM Modi to meditate in Kanniyakumari for 2 days after Lok Sabha campaign ends

Prime minister narendra modi will visit kanniyakumari to meditate from may 30 to june 1, following the conclusion of the lok sabha election campaign..

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• PM Modi will meditate in Kanniyakumari after election campaign
• Swami Vivekananda attained salvation at Kanniyakumari
• Last phase election scheduled on June 1, results on June 4

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a spiritual retreat for 2 days after the Lok Sabha election campaign ends. He will visit Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu to meditate ahead of the poll results on June 4, sources said on Tuesday. He will meditate at the Dhyan Mandapam from the evening for May 30 to the evening of June 1.

The last and seventh phase of the Parliament election is scheduled for June 1, and the campaign will end on May 30. PM Modi will visit Kanniyakumari's from May 30 to June 1 and will meditate at the Vivekananda Rock Memorial, the same place where Swami Vivekananda meditated.

Swami Vivekananda arrived in Kanniyakumari after wandering across the country and meditated for three days on a rock located about 500 meters off the mainland, at the meeting point of the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, and Arabian Sea. It is believed that Vivekananda attained enlightenment here.

According to Hindu beliefs, the rock was also the place where Goddess Kanniyakumari (Parvati) performed penance in devotion to Lord Shiva. A small projection on the rock is believed to be an imprint of her foot, adding to the religious significance of the site.

PM Modi is known to undertake spiritual journeys at the end of election campaigns. In 2019, he visited Kedarnath, and in 2014 he visited Shivaji’s Pratapgarh.

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8:25 a.m. The Prime Minister will visit the site of a biomanufacturing facility. The Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, Ya’ara Saks, the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, and the Mayor of Toronto, Olivia Chow, will also be in attendance.

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Pooled photo opportunity

9:00 a.m. The Prime Minister will make a biomanufacturing announcement. The Minister of Mental Health and Addictions and Associate Minister of Health, Ya’ara Saks, the Premier of Ontario, Doug Ford, and the Mayor of Toronto, Olivia Chow, will also be in attendance. A media availability will follow.

Notes for media:

Open coverage

Media are asked to arrive no later than 7:45 a.m.

Media interested in participating can contact  [email protected]  for details.

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Why a third term for Modi could be ‘catastrophic’ for India’s 200 million Muslims

Mohammad Saad was excited to return home to Bihar in eastern India and see his family. He had bought a train ticket and was packed to leave in the morning, but he never made it.

On that night of 31 July 2023, a mob of around 200 Hindus stormed the Anjuman Mosque in Gurugram, where Saad served as the deputy imam, and killed him in his sleep . The mob also burnt down the mosque .

Sectarian violence had erupted in the neighbouring Nuh region , and quickly spilled over into Gurugram, a shiny satellite township of India’s capital Delhi that hosts the offices of multinational corporations such as Google, Meta and Deloitte.

The violence in Gurugram was a reminder that the increasing persecution of religious minorities, particularly Muslims , was not confined to the hinterland.

It also reinforced accusations by critics that Narendra Modi ’s Hindu nationalist government had mainstreamed sectarian violence – an act for which Saad, 22, who would sing about religious harmony in social media videos, paid the price.

“I had spoken to Saad just half an hour before he was killed. He was excited to leave for home in the morning despite my concerns about the escalating violence in Nuh,” Shadab Anwar, the slain cleric’s brother, tells The Independent .

“He had multiple knife wounds on his chest and neck, suggesting a frenzied and prolonged assault. That night, everything changed for our family. I lost a brother, and my father and mother lost a son, to Muslim hate in this country.”

While Anwar is still awaiting justice for the killing of his brother, Indian authorities have moved promptly to bulldoze hundreds of homes and shops in Nuh in an act of collective – and extrajudicial – punishment against the local Muslims they accuse of inciting the violence, which left six people dead.

Now, nearly nine months later, as Anwar’s family prepare to vote in the national elections, they are compelled to mull what a third consecutive term for Modi could mean for them and for the 200 million Muslims who call the country home.

The six-weeks long seven voting phases came to an end on 1 June (Saturday) and the result will be announced on Tuesday.

Modi’s decade in power has seen a surge in hate speech against religious minorities , attacks on their places of learning and worship, and mob lynchings .

In recent years, Indian authorities have introduced “bulldozer justice” to punish Muslims for real and imagined offences. The demolition drive in Nuh was so blatantly discriminatory – 283 Muslim and 71 Hindu properties were targeted – that Haryana’s High Court asked the state government if it was carrying out “an exercise of ethnic cleansing” against Muslims.

All the while, Hindu hardline groups, such as the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, which are aligned with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and boast thousands of members, have been operating with impunity .

“We have been vilified to the extent that Hindus have started refusing jobs to Muslims and they avoid mingling with us. I invited 10 Hindu families to a function at my home, but only three people turned up,” says Altaf Khan, a resident of Delhi.

Khan says he is worried for his children as the situation for Muslims in the country is growing grimmer by the day. Khan’s worry isn’t misplaced, as evidence of what Muslim scholar Qari Nasaruddin calls “injustice” and “Muslim hate” is not hard to find.

Nasaruddin points, by way of example, to the rubble of what once was a mosque, a Muslim graveyard and an Islamic school in the heart of the national capital. Nasaruddin is the imam of a mosque in Mehrauli that took in the displaced children.

The sprawling complex was demolished on 30 January by the Delhi Development Authority, run by Modi’s federal government, which claimed it was an illegal encroachment.

It didn’t matter that the Akhoondji Mosque was a site of historical significance built nearly 600 years ago in the same part of the city that boasts the iconic Qutub Minar.

The symbolism of the mosque being demolished barely days after Modi had presided over the inauguration of the new Ram Temple in Ayodhya – erected on the ruins of the medieval Babri Mosque, which was torn down by a Hindu mob in 1992 – wasn’t lost on the city’s Muslims.

In neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, governed by a Hindu monk called Adityanath, the High Court effectively banned Islamic schools in the country’s largest state by declaring a law in 2004 that ruled them unconstitutional . The order, which would have displaced around 2.7 million students, has since been put on hold by the Supreme Court.

Islamic schools, called madrasas, mainly serve poor or orphaned children.

Muzammil Ahmed, who teaches such children in Delhi, says the Indian authorities are going after Islamic schools supposedly in an effort to curb radicalisation, but that it is just “another conspiracy to malign Muslims”.

“Most of the children who come to us are orphans or have a single parent, and those with both parents are from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. By providing education, shelter and food, we are only lightening the burden on the government,” he tells The Independent .

Munir, a data scientist in Haryana who is afraid to give his full name, says Muslims now feel there is a clear bias in government policies.

“The normalisation of hatred has been very disturbing, and the government’s reaction to it all is even more alarming to us minorities,” he says. “We have seen that no action is taken when there is violence against the minorities, but if people from the Muslim community raise their voice, they find a bulldozer standing outside their house.”

India Hate Lab, a research group in the US, documented 668 incidents of hate speech against Muslims in 2023, of which 413 took place in the last six months of the year, coinciding with key state elections.

In the decade since Modi took power, “what has exponentially increased is runaway hate speech spouting venom against Muslims ”, including calls for genocide by politicians and Hindu religious leaders, says social activist Harsh Mander.

“India is witnessing an alarming rise in hate speech and targeted violence against individuals, which we call mob lynching – a word that was not even used earlier because it wasn’t a common grind.

“This could not happen except for an environment of encouragement and enablement, and indeed by validation, because these are the acts of open indictments for violence.”

In the run-up to the national elections, the Modi government activated the Citizenship Amendment Act, which was passed by parliament in December 2019 but put on the back burner after it sparked nationwide protests. The law openly discriminates against Muslims .

In a related move, the BJP government in the northern state of Uttarakhand enacted a uniform civil code , a law that has been criticised for overwriting the “personal laws” of religious minorities with seemingly Hindu laws. The BJP has long promised to roll out a similar code nationally, in line with the agenda of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) , a paramilitary volunteer organisation that campaigns for India to be made a Hindu nation. The RSS is the mothership of a network of Hindu nationalist groups, including the BJP.

In fact, the BJP was established in 1980 as the political arm of the RSS. It has come to dominate Indian politics under Modi’s leadership, making him the longest-serving prime minister to have come from a party other than Congress, the main opposition party.

In recent years, Hindu groups, along with their ideological fellow travellers in the media, have also targeted Muslims with conspiracy theories such as “love jihad”, “land jihad”, “halal jihad”, and “population jihad”, which claim that the minority community is deviously luring away Hindu women, taking over land, and increasing its numbers.

“These are basically a series of quite fantastical conspiracy theories. These are absurd, and they call to memory the kind of conspiracy theories that were created against the Jews before the Holocaust,” Mander says.

“It is bad enough that they simply circulate on social media, but these are also the terms that have been used by chief ministers and ministers of the ruling party. Then it becomes concerning.”

The “love jihad” conspiracy in particular has led to people being killed , and to a dozen states ruled by the BJP effectively criminalising religious conversion and interfaith relationships .

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has pointed out that such laws enable and embolden “existing government harassment, vigilante violence, and discrimination against religious minorities, as well as crackdowns on civil society organizations”.

In this context, Mander says, a third term for Modi is “particularly terrifying”.

In 2014, he adds, there was still hope, as the BJP leader promised to fight corruption, create 240 million jobs and build a stronger economy.

“It is a frightening time for India’s Muslims. The status of Muslims has been altered, and there is no hope of reversing the damage done to the social fabric with him getting a third term. The hate has been normalised,” the activist argues.

Apoorvanand, a professor and political commentator, says Hindus, who number over a billion, have been misled into thinking that it is going to be their rule.

“It is the RSS that is going to rule and dictate all aspects of the lives of Hindus,” he says. “The Hindus need to realise that they are handing themselves over to an organisation that follows the idea of homogeneity and wants to homogenise Hindu religion.”

The professor says it is “already a disastrous situation for Muslims” and that it will be catastrophic if the BJP continues to tighten its grip on power. “Muslims in India are being marginalised and cornered systematically under what is the ideology of the BJP,” he says.

At a rare press conference in the US last year, Modi declared that “democracy runs in our veins” when he was asked about his government’s alleged discrimination against minorities.

“We live in a democracy,” he said, standing alongside his host, US president Joe Biden. “Our government has taken the basic principles of democracy ... we have always proved that democracy can deliver. And when I say deliver, this is regardless of caste, creed, religion or gender.

“There is absolutely no space for discrimination,” he added. “And when you talk of democracy, if there are no human values and there is no humanity – [if] there are no human rights – then it’s not a democracy.”

The Independent reached out to BJP spokespeople for comment but did not receive a response.

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PM Modi begins meditation in Kanyakumari

Kanyakumari: Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his 45-hour-long meditation at the famed Vivekananda Rock Memorial here on Thursday evening, following completion of his two-months long high-pitch poll campaign across the country. This 45-hour meditation session is reminiscent of his previous meditative retreat in a Kedarnath cave after the 2019 poll campaign. The Prime Minister's visit is being telecast live on all social media platforms, BJP posted on X. Watch live.

Itinerary Modi will meditate from the evening of May 30 to the evening of June 1 at Dhyan Mandapam, where Vivekananda is believed to have had a divine vision about 'Bharat Mata', BJP sources said. The PM is also expected to offer prayers at the famous Sri Bhagavathy Amman temple. Before his departure on June 1, Modi plans to visit the Thiruvalluvar statue, a towering 133-ft sculpture dedicated to the Tamil bard, located adjacent to the rock memorial.

Election Code of Conduct As the meditation coincides with the silence period preceding the seventh and final phase of Lok Sabha elections on June 1, opposition Congress and DMK have expressed reservations and petitioned the Election Commission against the PM's visit. Congress alleged on Wednesday that Modi was attempting to "circumvent" the silence period restrictions with his meditation trip and urged the Election Commission to ensure it is not broadcasted by the media as it violates the model code of conduct. The local DMK unit in Tamil Nadu has also lodged a complaint with the District Collector, who is also the District Election Officer, citing the ongoing tourist season and the model code of conduct in force.

What's special about Kanyakumari BJP functionaries previously stated that Modi's choice of Kanyakumari for his spiritual journey underscores his commitment to realising Vivekananda's vision for the country. They emphasised the significance of the rock where Modi will meditate, stating that it had a profound impact on Vivekananda's life, comparable to Sarnath for Gautam Buddha. It was here that Vivekananda arrived after traveling across the country, meditated for three days, and envisioned a developed India. The site is also mentioned in holy texts as the location where Goddess Parvati meditated for Lord Shiva.

PM Shri @narendramodi to do Darshan and Pooja at Bhagavathy Amman Temple on 30th May 2024 in Kanyakumari, Tamil Nadu. Watch live: 📺 https://t.co/ZFyEVldUYK 📺 https://t.co/vpP0MInUi4 📺 https://t.co/lcXkSnNPDn 📺 https://t.co/4XQ2GzqK1N pic.twitter.com/t0nmwZQ3Zj — BJP (@BJP4India) May 29, 2024

Security arrangements All arrangements, including heightened security, are in place for Modi's 45-hour stay at the famed mid-sea memorial. Security has been intensified ahead of Modi's visit, with 2,000 police personnel tasked with guarding during his stay, along with surveillance by the Indian Coast Guard and Indian Navy. Tirunelveli range DIG Pravesh Kumar, accompanied by superintendent of police E Sundaravathanam, inspected the security arrangements at various locations. The district will witness a significant presence of 2000 police personnel and various security agencies maintaining vigilance during the PM's event. Restrictions include the closure of the beach to tourists from Thursday to Saturday and the suspension of private boat services.

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