Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is embarking on a three-day visit to the United States from 21 to 23 September 2024. This high-powered diplomatic tour comes at a time when India has intensified its efforts to bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table and out of the battlefield. PM Modi has a packed schedule, with various bilateral and multilateral meetings lined up on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Meetings with business and industry leaders are also expected.
One of the most watched-out-for events will take place on the 21st, when the sixth Quad leaders’ summit will be hosted by US President Biden at his residence in Delaware. Modi also has a significant event planned with the Indian diaspora on the 22nd, an address at the Summit of the Future on the 23rd, and a purported meeting with former US President Donald Trump.
The Quad Summit: A Meeting of Global Powers
The first leg of Prime Minister Modi’s tour begins not in New York or Washington, D.C., but in Delaware. On the 21st, all eyes will be on Wilmington, where President Biden is hosting the leaders of India, the US, Japan, and Australia for the Quad summit at his own residence. This is a rare gesture from a US President and reflects the depth to which the Quad has evolved as an informal yet effective grouping. Major announcements are expected, as the timing is critical, with Biden not running for re-election and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also stepping down soon.
This meeting is particularly significant for outgoing President Joe Biden’s legacy. In fact, the US swapped dates with India to host the summit this year. Originally, India was supposed to host the Quad summit this year, but it will now do so in 2025 with a new set of leaders from Japan and the US.
The Quad Alliance has steadily grown into a powerful group aimed at countering Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific. Discussions this time will focus on topics like security, trade, supply chains and technology cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. The summit will not only review progress made in the last year but also discuss how to further assist Indo-Pacific nations in achieving their development goals, an area where India has been increasingly active through initiatives like infrastructure development, technology sharing, and capacity building. India will also be signing a slew of agreements with the leaders of these countries at the bilateral level.
Modi’s Moment: Engaging with the Diaspora
With the culmination of the Quad summit, PM Modi will head to one of the prime events of his visit: a grand diaspora event titled ‘Modi & US Progress Together’. It will be held in New York on September 22. More than 24,000 Indian-Americans have already signed up, and the number is expected to be much higher.
This event is not just about connecting with the Indian diaspora but also about solidifying India’s soft power. Indian-Americans form a crucial part of the US electorate and business community, and Modi’s engagement with them strengthens India’s constructive influence in the US. With a population exceeding 5 million, Indian-Americans represent about 1.5 per cent of the US population. The New York City metro area alone is home to over 711,000 people of Indian origin. This is an influential diaspora group, known for its achievements across various fields, including science, technology, and business. Indian-Americans are an important cog in the wheel of India-US relations.
From the Madison Square Garden event in New York in 2014 to the Howdy Modi event in Houston in 2019, PM Modi has leveraged his popularity within this group to assert India’s bargaining power. Recently, relations with the US have faced minor hurdles due to differences over India’s strategic autonomy and the emergence of the Khalistan issue, particularly allegations of India’s involvement in murder plots targeting Khalistani terrorists. Modi’s visit, along with the grand display of support from the diaspora, will significantly stress to the US the importance of recognising the merits of India’s independent foreign policy and taking the matter of Khalistani terror seriously.
This visit also comes at a time when India has emerged as a significant player in efforts to bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table. Over the past few months, there has been a flurry of diplomatic activity, with India engaging both warring sides. In June, PM Modi met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the G7 Summit in Japan. In July, he travelled to Moscow for a high-stakes meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Then, in August, Modi returned to Kyiv in Ukraine to meet Zelenskyy once again. He later spoke with President Biden on the phone to discuss his meeting with Zelenskyy. Most recently, NSA Ajit Doval was in Russia, where he spoke to Putin about Modi’s meeting with Zelenskyy in Kyiv. Both the West and Russia have been extensively engaged by India on this matter, and therefore, Modi’s US visit may contribute further to this effort.
Modi at the UN: Addressing Global Challenges
Moving forward, Prime Minister Modi will address the ‘Summit of the Future’ at the UNGA in New York on September 23. This year’s theme—Multilateral Solutions for a Better Tomorrow—aligns perfectly with India’s message of reforming global governance structures to better reflect the current world order. Modi is expected to emphasise multilateralism, climate action, and global peacekeeping, while reiterating India’s demand for greater representation in international bodies, particularly the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
Furthermore, there are discussions about a possible meeting with Mohammad Yunus, the leader of the new caretaker government of Bangladesh. Meanwhile, Donald Trump and his team have announced plans to meet Modi, although no such announcement has been made by India so far. Recently, Trump called the Indian Prime Minister a “fantastic man” and said that they would be meeting. This is significant, as the US is approaching a presidential election with Trump polling neck-and-neck with his rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
All in all, it’s a power-packed week in diplomacy ahead and will be watched closely around the world.
Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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