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Narendra Modi: Another Discovery of America

Narendra Modi: Another Discovery of America
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India's Prime-Minister Narendra Modi ended his trip to America which evoked huge interest as Mr. Modi was banned from receiving a visa to US for nine long years.

India's Prime-Minister Narendra Modi ended his trip to America which evoked huge interest as Mr. Modi was banned from receiving a visa to US for nine long years. Receiving rock star reception at Madison Square Garden an ardent Hindu nationalist called New York "a great city which assimilated the world in itself" while a multi-thousand crowd of Indian Americans chanted in Hindi "Long Live Mother India."

Studio guest Vladimir Sotnikov, Director of the East-West Strategic Studies Center, Moscow independent think-tank, Paul Sanders, Anglo-German historian and management scholar. He is a full-time professor at NEOMA Businss School, Reims Campus, France, and Rajeev Sharma, independent expert in New-Delhi, India, shared their opinions with Radio VR.

Why Narendra Modi is so controversial?

Vladimir Sotnikov: I think that he is a so much controversial figure, because, look, he is going from a conservative figure, according to the standards of the Indian politics, when he was the Chief Minister of the Gujarat state. And some in India believe that he is personally responsible for these pogroms and killings of thousands of Muslims. But now, he is the leader of the great country who would like India to be on par with China and even have good relations with the US. And secondly, he would also like to take Pakistan out of the US’s embrace. So, he is really a controversial figure, because, first, he was regarded as a pogrom man, and then he is the leader of the huge country and he is leading the country to the next generation of politicians, and into the next century.

How significant India is for the US and Europe? And how significant Narendra Modi is?

Paul Sanders: This is far more significant for the US than for Europe in strategic terms. You have to keep in mind that there is a strategic rebalance going on on the part of the US, less of Europe. Of course, if you see this in wider geopolitical terms, that almost eclipses the question of the visa ban of an Indian politician that used to be a regional politician. But now he is the Prime Minister and it changes quite a bit. The geopolitical context eclipses any apprehensions that may have existed before against this one individual, because the wider implications are of course much more significant.

There is a potential for the Indian-US relations, which can serve something like a counterweight to other partners or allies, or, you might say, competitors, or as we say coopetitors. We use that term cooperative competition when we try to talk about the US-China relations. So, India can be a counterweight, if it is built up economically, but also militarily to other partnerships that the US has in Asia, which is becoming the pivot of the US diplomacy and strategy in the world.

There were very high hopes a decade ago in the West being able to build up India as a counterweight to China, but that clearly has not been realized. And you can also see that in the US-India relationships only a few years ago that wasn’t really going anywhere at all. So, this could be a new departure now.

Would you say that this signify the recognition of India’s importance for the US as an emerging power?

Paul Sanders: Absolutely! I think it is very significant, what is going on there. There are plenty of initiatives combined with this. I mean, in terms of military cooperation, here is quite a lot going on there between India and the US. And also, what I find very interesting, is that the Chinese leader was in India around the same time as the Indian Prime Minister came to the US.
And from the press reports it was quite interesting to see that there was very little euphoria and mutual clapping on ones’ shoulders during the presence of the Chinese leader in India, but there was euphoria hope that was attached to the Indian Prime Minister coming to the US. I find this very interesting, to put these two events in parallel. There is a potential in the US-Indian relations that doesn’t seem to be there in Indian-Chinese relations.

How has this visit been perceived in India?

Rajeev Sharma: There are two ways of looking at the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US. One is that, as far the New York visit is concerned, it went on very well, but it went on very well for Modi’s personal charisma. But when he came to Washington for the bilateral talks, and I don’t see much substantive progress. I don’t give the very high marks for the Washington visit, in the sense that even after the visit the Indo-US differences continue. Like on the nuclear cooperation, like on the TWO and several other issues, they continue to be as they were before the visit.

Some are saying that this new American-Indian honeymoon can jeopardize Russian-Indian relations. What do you make out of that?

Rajeev Sharma: No, not at all. I'm absolutely convinced that whoever is at the helm of power in the New Delhi or in Washington, or in Moscow, it doesn’t really matter. When you talk about India and Russia, the relations are very deep and they are going to deepen further when President Putin will visit New Delhi in December and you will see the substance of what I'm talking now about. It doesn’t matter whether India intensified its engagement with Washington or with Tokyo, or with Beijing, as far as New Delhi and Moscow are concerned, their bilateral relations will go from strength to strength.

Tell us, what is Narendra Modi like as the politician now?

Rajeev Sharma: Only the time will tell. I mean, he continues to be controversial in India, not only abroad. All the opposition parties are up in arms against him in India, and it is not going to be a better process for him in any case.

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