- Friday, February 28, 2025
Modi, who made the first speech to the US Congress on June 8, said India and the US have overcome “hesitations of history”.
By: Shubham Ghosh
While the world waits for Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to visit the US on his first state visit later in June where he will also achieve the rare feat of addressing a joint session of American lawmakers twice, Thursday (8) marked the seventh anniversary of his first address made on June 8, 2016.
Seven years ago, Modi was just two years into the office of the prime minister and had made an appearance in the US after being avoided for many years owing to religious violence in his home state of Gujarat. But today, he has already completed seven trips to the US and the two democracies are witnessing deepening of ties across sectors, be it strategic, economic, defence and political. Today, India and the US share a close relationship which has not been the case historically and during his first address on Capitol Hill, Modi had said something similar.
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In his 46-minute speech that started with a ‘namaste’, Modi had told the Congress that India and the US have overcome “the hesitations of history” and sought ever-stronger economic and defence ties between them.
“Let us work together to convert shared ideals into practical cooperation,” the prime minister had said while praising both the nations’ common democratic principles and hailed Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr, the two two iconic heroes of non-violence from India and the US, respectively.
Modi had said that in advancing their relationship, both India and the US stand to gain in great measure.
The Indian prime minister, who had invited former US president Barrack Obama as the chief guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations in 2015, something which had happened for the first time, had given the speech in the Congress a day after meeting Obama in the White House.
“Today, our relationship has overcome the hesitations of history,” Modi had said, adding, “Comfort, candor and convergence define our conversations.”
The prime minister had also shown his witty side in that speech when he told the US lawmakers that he was informed that the working of the host nation’s Congress is harmonious.
“I am also told that you are well-known for your bipartisanship. Well, you are not alone,” he said, leaving the lawmakers laughing.
The visiting leader had also spoke on India-US cooperation on climate change and the Democrats had welcomed him with a standing applause.
Touching upon the two nations’ cultural links, Modi had remarked that more Americans bend for yoga than to throw a curve ball. He then had added that India has not yet claimed intellectual property rights on yoga.
It may be mentioned that Modi’s upcoming visit to the US will happen on the International Day of Yoga.
Modi had also said his nation’s 1.25 billion (the population then) people made the Asian nation an “ideal partner” for American businesses. He had added he aimed at strengthening India’s rural economy, bringing electricity to all households and bettering transportation systems, all achieved “with a light carbon footprint.”
During his first address to the joint session of the US Congress, Modi had not read a passage from his prepared remarks that said he and Obama “agreed” that making India a permanent member of the US Security Council “has to be an intrinsic part of this century’s new reality”, US’s Public Broadcasting Service reported.
Modi is the fifth Indian prime minister to make a speech in the US Congress since 1985. The last was by his predecessor Manmohan Singh in 2005. Singh was also last Indian prime minister to make a state visit to the US, in 2009.
While the US denied a visa to Modi over his alleged role in the religious riots in Gujarat in 2002 as the chief minister of the state and US officials largely avoided contact with him, things saw a see change after he became the prime minister in 2014.
