'Modi and Obama are transformational leaders. There can't be a better occasion than to see them together, making their own 'firsts' in a festival of the Republic of India,' says Tarun Vijay, MP.
Delhi-Washington cooperation is a universe of democracy and pluralism. This Republic Day will see the uniqueness of this relationship in its full splendour.
President Barack Obama attending the show of India's rising might and a billion plus Indians watching their adored leader Narendra Modi's first presence as the Republic's prime minister will be a spectacular event that people will remember for long.
If Modi has transformed Indian polity, so has Obama added a new colour to American democracy and dreams -- the colour of inclusiveness. His is a thousand mile journey, a remarkable icon, a milestone after 400 years of a vibrant American democracy whose leaders like Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and Martin Luther King Jr inspire us and the rest of the democracies.
Both Modi and Obama are transformational leaders of their respective nations. There couldn't have been a better occasion than to see them both together, making their own 'firsts', in a festival of the Republic of India.
What a muhurtam they share! Beyond the realms and ill effects of Rahu-Kalams and Ketu Kalams, the Modi-Kalam of the Indian Republic has become overwhelmingly more powerful.
Much beyond the energy and military hardware issues, it is the meeting of the two minds that matter. The rest will follow seamlessly in a natural way.
Obama is different from all other US Presidents. He can be talked to. He knows how to make policy corrections, hug a lost friend. He can be put in the club of Dr King and John F Kennedy as far as the Indian peoples' admiration for American idols is measured.
Too many 'firsts' are added each day to the Modi cap that winning and being 'first' seems to have become his habit. It will be very difficult for anyone to outweigh his basket of achievements or better his standards.
Before India's general election I was invited by the India US Joint Business Council to an 'intimate' roundtable with members (major US companies and investors) in Washington and I was pleasantly surprised to see some of the big US corporate names attending it. They reverentially asked questions that bordered on admiration and sincere hopes for Modi.
They feared too, if Modi wins, would he carry the baggage of bitter feelings towards the US, which had been showing disdain and contempt for him, denying him an entry into the country?
Would he be revengeful towards those who nursed animosity against him?
Would he facilitate business with the US and let the investments flow into India in a friendly, encouraging atmosphere, with a tax regime that helps?
"Modi keeps the priorities for his nation on top," I said, "and will never allow the past block our future." They smiled when I said that Modi would better the records of Jawaharlal Nehru in gaining a majority and that he treats the US as a natural democratic ally that has the trust of the Indian people.
"Modi will never carry any baggage from the past in building relations with the USA," I said, "His regime will prove the best ever regime for furthering ties between the two nations. Your people, your leaders and your democratic values have inspired common Indians, notwithstanding certain bad patches in between which shocked us but never made us feel that the US must be discarded in favour of new allies."
"We believe in our own strength, we want to build our own sinews to fight our battles and if US decides to cooperate its good for the world."
I am too happy the optimism I presented in Washington is coming true with the two great democracies weaving a new fabric of future cooperation with vigour and enthusiasm.
Image: Prime Minister Narendra Modi introduces Power Minister Piyush Goel, the minister-in-waiting, to US President Barack Obama. Also in the photographg: Foreign Secretary Sujata Singh.
