The Biden-Modi relationship is built around mutual admiration

Associated Press

Washington: Washington No one would mistake them for best of friends. But U.S. President Joe Biden, the son of bluecollar Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who rose from tea seller’s son to premier, have developed a relationship based on mutual respect of their scrappy backgrounds and a pragmatism about the shared challenges their two countries face.

Biden is hosting Modi for a state visit this week as he looks to tighten his relationship with the leader of a nation of 1.4 billion that the U.S. administration sees as a pivotal force in Asia for decades to come.

The pompfilled visit will mark the two leaders’ 10th in-person or virtual engagement since Biden became president in 2021. They’re expected to meet again in September in India at the Group of 20 summit. The U.S.-India relationship is complicated. There are deep differences over Russia’s war in Ukraine and India’s human rights record.

But the frequent engagement between the leaders is seen by both sides as a reflection that, whatever their personal dynamics, Biden and Modi see the U.S.-India relationship as a defining one in the face of an increasingly assertive China and monumental challenges posed by climate change, artificial intelligence, supply chain resilience and other issues.

“They get along well personally, but even more important, I think both realize it is in the interest of the U.S. and India to advance the relationship,” said Arun K. Singh, a former Indian ambassador to the U.S.

“For both Biden and Modi, there is a convergence of interests and you can see both leaders are invested personally in moving ties ahead.” Biden and Modi haven’t developed the sort of tight bond that President Barack Obama had with Modi’s predecessor, Manmohan Singh. Singh was the first leader Obama honored with a state visit during his presidency