- Thursday, February 27, 2025
The diplomat is currently in the US for consultations with officials of the Joe Biden administration, a month after PM Modi’s visit to the US and ahead of the Biden’s visit to India for the G20 Summit.
By: Shubham Ghosh
US AMBASSADOR to India Eric Garcetti, a politician-turned-diplomat, has said that politicians need to focus on leadership and governance and the elections would take care of him. His words came ahead of 2024, a year when both India and the US will go to their respective national elections.
“I love elections, and maybe it’s because I’ve been in many of them. But it’s a moment where the people get to prove that they’re in control, that it’s not the top down, it’s the bottom up in our countries; a moment to listen to candidates, hear what they’re going to say, and make a decision based on what’s in your own best interest,” Garcetti, a former mayor of Los Angeles, told PTI in an interview.
The diplomat is currently in the US for consultations with officials of the Joe Biden administration, a month after prime minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US and ahead of the US president’s visit to India for the G20 Summit in September.
The 52-year-old Garcetti, who is said to be a rising start in the ruling Democratic Party, was elected as the mayor of Los Angeles in 2013 and re-elected in 2017. Forty-two then, was the youngest person to become the mayor of the city in more than a century.
He has been an active ambassador in India and has extensively travelled across the country since May when he took over as the first full-fledged US envoy in the South Asian nation after more than two years.
His Twitter account shows he loves vibrant Indian culture and cuisines.
“I love the vibrancy of the Indian democracy. Democracies are difficult. They’re not always perfect, but they’re worth fighting for. And my advice to any leader running is don’t be a politician, be a leader. Govern and elections take care of themselves,” Garcetti told the news agency.
In response to a question, the ambassador said Americans are starting to have a better understanding of India.
“But beyond loving the food, one in four Americans being treated by an Indian doctor who’s immigrated here, I think they’re beginning to ask even deeper questions. Tell me more about the culture? The history? Maybe I want to visit as a tourist. Maybe I’d think about studying there, if I’m a university student; invest there, if I have capital,” he said.
“These things are deepening that relationship beyond the positive kind of surface level feelings that Americans have to really getting to the core of what I hope will be a 50-year friendship that will deepen both our country’s experiences,” Garcetti added.
President Biden, according to the diplomat, probably has been the most pro-India president that the US has ever had and understands what’s at stake.
“That this isn’t just about good relations. This isn’t just about deterring bad actors. This is about raising the potential of our two countries to not be two plus two equals four, but that we could be two times, two times two times two. It’s exponential in what we can produce together,” he said.
While parliamentary elections in India are expected to be held in April and May next year, the presidential polls in the US will take place in November after primaries kick off in January.
