Modi has had a good trip to the US, with markers among UNGA, Quad and magnates

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is back in India, having wound up his three-day visit to the US, after attending the first in-person Quad Summit, meeting other world leaders and addressing the UN General Assembly as its first speaker. It is in stark contrast to his earlier visits that were marked by hype, festivities and fanfare. This time round, the political dispensation in the US has changed from the much-friendly Trump Administration. Modi met US Vice-President Kamala Harris, Australian counterpart Scott Morrison, Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga and the CEOs of five multinational companies. The Australian and Japanese PMs are in the US for the Quad Summit (A virtual Summit was held in March this year). This diplomatic and military arrangement is widely viewed as a response to increased Chinese economic and military power. Addressing the Summit, Modi said Quad would act as a “force for global good” and “will establish peace and prosperity in the world”, he added. The culmination of the visit was, of course, the Prime Minister’s speech at the UN General Assembly that was high on rhetoric but piercingly aimed at China and Pakistan. Modi also addressed the Afghanistan situation and, without naming Pakistan, cautioned it against using Afghanistan for fomenting trouble. Modi said “regressive mindsets were giving terrorism a political meaning”; a statement that may be interpreted as “don’t use terrorism as a tool of diplomacy and changing the geopolitics of the region”. For good effect, he underlined the need to be alert against any country using Afghanistan’s vulnerability for “selfish interests”.

The context was that Pakistan PM Imran Khan had made direct and scathing attacks on India, insisting that the two nuclear powers have to “behave, else the consequences would be grave”. Modi, without naming either China or Pakistan, hinted that terrorism as a State policy was not a good idea and the countries should refrain from doing so. He also mentioned the accomplishment of the Indian presidency at the UN Security Council last month. Modi also referred to the issue of the “origins of the COVID virus” and the cancellation of the World Bank’s “Ease of Doing Business Index”, both of which have been laid at China’s door for a lack of transparency by the global institutions. He also emphasised the need for cooperation, saying he represented India as the “mother of all democracies”. Earlier, at a meeting with Kamala Harris, both sides emphasised safeguarding democratic values and upholding human rights in respective countries. Modi also offered condolences to the pandemic victims. Overall, it was a well-crafted speech and well delivered though his “chaiwala” reference is better avoided as it has become rather clichéd. Though Modi also had a meeting with President Joe Biden, it was more to do with protocol than anything else. The personal chemistry between them was clearly missing.