Modi outdid even Vajpayee. But is America impressed?

There was understandable build-up of popular expectations from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the joint session of the US Congress.

As expected from Modi the master communicator, those expectations have not been let down.

For sure Modi was addressing, primarily, the gathered representatives and senators, and through them the American people and the American administration.

It was an outreach event, like all addresses to joint sessions of Congress by foreign heads of government are, reaching out to Democrats and Republicans.

Influence

To that extent, it was an attempt, a commendable one, to influence both policy and opinion on Capitol Hill and reinvigorate bipartisan support for, and interest in India. It was also an exercise in allaying fears and apprehensions, fuelled in large measure by unwholesome events and unedifying utterances in India.

There are congressional concerns, even if restricted to a handful of members, about perceived restrictions on freedom of religion and right to dissent that have taken form and shape after the advent of Modi sarkar in 2014. Addressing those concerns is important.

So we had Modi getting rid of the clutter of necessary and obligatory references right at the beginning of his speech before moving on to more meaningful issues.

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He paid fulsome tribute to American democracy, the world's oldest, and the US' commitment to protecting freedom and liberty abroad, which is debatable.

More important, Modi reminded the gathered audience that India is governed and lives by its republican Constitution, that this is a country which has defied conventional wisdom of the mid 20th century to survive not only as a democracy but grow into a robust, vibrant, open society. The blots and blemishes that exist are not exclusive to India.

Second, and this is not terribly original, Modi used the opportunity to reiterate that if liberty and freedom have made America great, they also unite India and the US.

India's commitment to these twin cornerstones of a democracy is no less than that of the US; the world's oldest and largest democracies have a lot in common.

Recalling Abraham Lincoln's immortal words, "All men are created equal," Modi sort of elaborated that India, with "equality as the essence of its soul," lives the dictum by example.

Asserting that India celebrates its "age-old diversity" and every mohalla is "anchored in equal respect for all faiths; and in the melody of hundreds of its languages and dialects," Modi sought to address the other concern: "rising intolerance" as the liberals at home and abroad label commonplace every day stuff that went unnoticed all these decades.

Convince

Whether this has helped remove doubts and convinced all movers and shakers on the Hill that "India lives as one; India grows as one; India celebrates as one" will be known in the coming months, after the US elections are done with.

In the interregnum, it will be business as usual at best.

The real substance of his speech lies in the second half where he addresses India's aspirations, America's interests and mutual concerns. The "absence of security architecture" is not a casual throw of words.

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It refers to China's unrestrained emergence as an economic and military behemoth, and the missing counterfoil. The US cannot abdicate its responsibility, not the least because China is what it is today because of American sustenance of and investment in its economy.

While America has made the right noises and reassured India of its rightful place in the Indian Ocean and in India-Pacific region, frankly they have not amounted to much.

India needs to grow much faster, get much bigger and drop silly pretences of a "soft power" just because the world loves Bollywood films, or so we are told.

Investment

But to get much bigger, stronger and grow up into a tough guy (and not a limp-wristed dandy), India needs America. It needs American investment, it needs American technology, it needs American defence equipment, and it needs American cover as it breaches new frontiers, literally and metaphorically.

It's against this backdrop that we need to view the two most significant sentences in Modi's address to the US Congress: "In every sector of India's forward march, I see the US as an indispensable partner" and that "a stronger and prosperous India is in America's strategic interest".

The first statement marks an irrevocable departure from whatever remained of the much-vaunted Nehruvian consensus and non-aligned mumbo-jumbo in India's foreign policy. It's a definitive break with the past.

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In 1949, Jawaharlal Nehru, addressing the US Congress, eloquently spoke of India's "voyage of discovery". Along the road India discovered friends, became a Soviet ally, and waved the flag of non-alignment to signal its distance and estrangement from America. It was not about neutrality; it was about Third World hostility.

More than half a century later we have Modi declaring America as India's indispensable partner, that's a lot more than Atal Bihari Vajpayee standing at the same podium and calling the US a "natural ally".

The enormous importance of Modi's statement is yet to sink in at home; has its import struck those listening to him in America?

To be an indispensable partner, the US will not only have to accommodate India's soaring aspirations but also dovetail them into American strategic interest.

A strong India, a prosperous India, is indeed in the US' strategic interest, globally and in the region.

Will the US rise to the challenge and seize the moment? That will test both American and India diplomacy.

(Courtesy of Mail Today.)