Political leaders in both parties in the US view India as a vital ally in containing the rise of China and a partner on defence, technology and energy.

WASHINGTON:

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a rousing welcome as he delivered a speech to US Congress on Thursday, celebrating the growing ties and shared ambitions of the world’s two largest democracies. Mr. Modi made the rare address to a joint meeting of Congress.

“Now, when our era is at a crossroads, I am here to speak about our calling for this century,” Mr. Modi told lawmakers, drawing applause in the House chamber. “I can relate to the battles of passion, persuasion and policy. I can understand the debate of ideas and ideology. But I am delighted to see you come together today to celebrate the bond between world’s two great democracies: India and the United States. “I agree with President Biden that this is a defining partnership of this century,” he said. “Because it serves a larger purpose. Democracy, demography and destiny give us that purpose.”

Leaders of both major parties are unified in their belief that India is a vital ally for Washington’s top foreign policy goal — containing the rise of China — and a partner on defense, technology and energy. Mr. Modi — who has dealt with violent clashes with China on the border it shares with India — visited at a time of rising U.S.-China tensions.

“The dark clouds of coercion and confrontation are casting their shadow in the Indo-Pacific,” he told Congress. “The stability of the region has become one of the central concerns of our partnership. We share a vision of a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific. “Now, the United States has become one of our most important defence partners,” he said to a standing ovation from lawmakers.

Mr. Modi alluded to the “millions” of Americans of Indian origin, including Vice-President Kamala Harris, who sat on the dais with him alongside House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif. Others in attendance were Indian American members of Congress such as the Progressive Caucus chair, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash.; Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., a Biden surrogate; and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., the ranking member of the House’s select committee on China.

Mr. Modi brushed aside criticisms about his record on human rights, treatment of minorities and free speech when he took rare questions from the media at a joint news conference with Biden at the White House.  “India and America — both countries — democracy is in our DNA. The democracy is our spirit. Democracy runs in our veins. We live democracy,” Modi told reporters. “In India’s democratic values, there is absolutely no discrimination, neither on basis of caste, creed or age or any kind of geographic location.”

Before the speech, Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and John Cornyn, R-Texas, the co-chairs of the Senate India Caucus, introduced a bill to add India to the list of favoured nations for US arm sales under the Arms Export Control Act, alongside NATO members and Australia, Japan, Israel, New Zealand and South Korea. Part of their goal is to cultivate closer US-India ties that would help New Delhi break its dependence on Moscow for military equipment. The senators hope to add it to the annual defense authorization bill.

“We need to continue to encourage India to align itself with the democracies in the world and not the autocracies,” Mr. Cornyn said. “And obviously, history is a big influence here, because since — what, 1947? — the United States has been more aligned with Pakistan, and India was then forced in the arms of Russia. And obviously, they’re very dependent, still, on Russian weapons.”

Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and ranking member Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, called on Biden to “prioritize the elimination of India’s significant barriers to U.S. trade and investment on the Indian subcontinent.”

The invitation for Mr. Modi to speak on Capitol Hill was signed by the top Democrat and the top Republican in both the House and the Senate, who mounted a show of bipartisanship to praise “the enduring friendship between the United States and India.”

“Today,” Mr. Modi told Congress on Thursday, “we stand at a new dawn in our relationship that will not only shape the destiny of our two nations, but also that of the world.”

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According to media projections, Democrat Biden has won the November 3 presidential election. However, Trump, a Republican, has alleged election fraud and mounted legal fights in a number of battleground states.

“More people may die if we don’t coordinate,” Biden said in Wilmington, Delaware, on Monday, responding to a question on President Donald Trump refusing to concede the election and the outgoing administration not co-operating in the transition process.

“A vaccine is important. It’s of little use until you’re vaccinated. So, how do we get the vaccine, how do we get over 300 million Americans vaccinated? What’s the game plan? It’s a huge, huge, huge undertaking to get it done, prioritise those greatest in need and working our way through, and also cooperate with the World Health Organiszation and the rest of the world in dealing with this,” he said.

“So they (Trump administration) say they have this ‘Warp Speed’ programme that not only dealt with getting vaccines, but also how to distribute this. If we have to wait until January 20th (day of Presidential inauguration) to start that planning, it puts us behind over a month, month-and-a-half. And so, it’s important that it be done, that there be coordination now, now or as rapidly as we can get that done,” Biden said.

As of now, Biden said his action plan is to deal with every individual, organisation in the country from business to labour, Republicans and Democrats, to try to pull together a serious and consistent plan so that he is ready on day one with everything from staffing to ultimately naming cabinet members to moving along on coordinating with business and labour, the COVID-19 outbreak.

And so, it would make it a lot easier if the president were to participate. We have a number of Republicans suggesting that–the good news here is my colleague is still on the Intelligence Committee so she gets the intelligence briefings. I don’t anymore. But there’s a number of Republicans calling for that, he said.

“My message is I will work with you. I understand a lot of your reluctance because of the way the president operates, but I’ve been in contact with and will be in contact with more of them as we move along. And if it has to wait until January 20th to get–to actually become operational, that’s a shame but it may be that’s the only way to get it done,” he said.

Biden was also asked about his thoughts on Trump’s tweet over the weekend where he first seemed to acknowledge that Biden had won the election. However, soon after Trump said he would not concede, and that he had won.

“I interpret that as Trumping-ism, no change in his modus operandi. And I think the pressure will continue to build,” he said.

The President-elect said that he is having a lot of meetings with world leaders on the telephone and he can get into negotiating with them about things that are going to be done. They are calling with some degree of enthusiasm everyone from a holy father to prime ministers across the globe.

“So we are moving along knowing what the outcome will be and but I find this more embarrassing for the country than debilitating for my ability to get started,” Biden said.

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