Narendra Modi’s US visit begins with a bang as 19-gun salute welcomes him

Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off his three-day visit to Washington starting on Monday by visiting the 'Tomb of the Unknown Soldier' at the Arlington National Cemetery.

As Modi laid a wreath at the cemetery, Indian Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup tweeted.

Modi was received by Defence Secretary Ashton Carter at the US' most hallowed military ground. The Arlington sarcophagus contain the remains of service members from the First and Second World Wars, and the Korea and Vietnam wars. The 3rd US Infantry Regiment has famously stood guard over the monument through howling blizzards and hurricanes since 1948.

Modi also paid tribute to astronaut Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian woman in space and her six crew members who died as the Columbia space shuttle flew apart while re-entering Earth's orbit on 1 February, 2003.

Modi interacted with Chawla's husband, Jean-Pierre Harrison, complimenting him warmly on his Gujarati Kutch embroidered jacket. A charmed Harrison presented Modi with his wife’s biography The Edge of Time. Harrison’s memoir about his wife describes how Punjab Engineering College graduate Chawla emigrated to the US in the 1980s to become an astronaut in 1994. Chawla made her first space flight in 1997 as a mission specialist and prime robotic arm operator.

After the wreath laying ceremony, Modi interacted with astronaut Sunita Williams and her father Deepak Pandya. Senior officials from Nasa also met Modi at the Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial. Nasa has a long and successful history of space cooperation with India, beginning in 1963 when India first launched a US-manufactured sounding rocket from Thumba to study Earth’s magnetic equator.

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Modi, 65, has kept the most grueling of travel schedules on his five nation tour: He scored a big win in Geneva on Monday for India's bid to be admitted to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). He touched down in Washington later on Monday afternoon to hurl himself into a flurry of activities.

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Modi’s US visit: China’s growing footprint a cause of concern?

Barack Obama and Narendra Modi have "invested in developing a close relationship."

Modi paying Obama a farewell visit is being touted as a sign of growing collaboration 

between the two countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit will highlight the growing collaboration between India 

and the US and their “shared leadership” on the world stage, the White House said on the

 eve of his arrival in Washington. “This visit celebrates the remarkable transformation in US-

India ties. Over the last seven years, the United States and India have cemented an 

enduring bond of friendship, built on democratic values, open societies, and a respect for a

 rules-based order,” a senior administration official told PTI. At the invitation of President 

Barack Obama, Modi arrives in the US capital on Tuesday afternoon as he and Obama are 

scheduled to meet at the Oval Office.

The President will host a lunch for the Prime Minister after the meeting.

“The Prime Minister’s visit will also highlight the growing collaboration between our two 

countries and, more consequentially, our shared leadership on the world stage,” the official 

said.

“From addressing climate change and providing clean energy solutions, to deepening our 

economic and trade ties, to preserving cyberspace as an engine for growth and 

development, to protecting our shared spaces on the sea, in the air, and in space, the world 

is better when the United States and India lead together,” the official said.

On Wednesday, Modi will address a joint meeting of the US Congress, the first foreign 

leader to do so this year and also the first to address a joint meeting of the Congress under

 Speaker Paul Ryan.

Meanwhile two leading US dailies – the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal – have

 said that Obama building a relationship with Modi is primarily aimed at China.

The two leaders “have each invested in developing a close relationship”, Benjamin J 

Rhodes, Deputy National Security Advisor was quoted as saying by NYT.

The daily said the US is encouraging the rise of India as a giant Asian partner to balance

 China, and India is trying to accelerate its economy with an injection of investment from

 American companies.

The Wall Street Journal said among the factors propelling India-US the relationship is 

China’s growing footprint in India’s traditional sphere of influence in the Indian Ocean.

The White House is looking to increase economic and defence cooperation during the visit 

and to cement the new momentum in ties before turning the relationship over to the next US

 president, WSJ reported.

Since their first meeting at the White House in September 2014, after Modi came to power

 in May that year, the two leaders have met six times.

Obama was the first foreign leader to congratulate Modi over the phone after his historic 

victory.

“The hours they’ve spent together have allowed them to have a good understanding of their 

respective worldviews and domestic circumstances, and made it possible to deepen 

defence ties, advance our civil nuclear cooperation and achieve a breakthrough on climate

 change,” Rhodes said, “It is also an indication of how important President Obama thinks our

 relationship is with India, as the world’s largest democracy and an increasingly important 

partner.”

“For each country, the other country has really emerged as an incredibly important and vital 

partner,” an administration official was quoted as saying by WSJ.

“India has global interests, and it’s looking to protect those interests, but it lacks sufficient 

capability to do that. So India is looking to make a big bet on the United States to help it gain

 that capacity. And we are very comfortable with helping India do that,” the daily reported.

“India made a big shift under Prime Minister Modi,” the official was quoted as saying by WSJ

 according to which Obama sees a gradual change in India’s role in the world as one of his 

major achievements.

“I think it’s really hard to overestimate the rapid pace of progress in our defence 

relationship,” the official said.

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