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Obama gets warm welcomefrom Narendra Modi in IndiaPresident arrives in New Delhi on three-day visitaiming for progress on climate change, defenceand economic issues
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Associated Press in New DelhiThe Guardian, Sunday 25 January 2015 10.45 GMT
President Obama is greeted by prime minister Narendra Modi upon his
arrival in India on Sunday. Photograph: Reuters
US president Barack Obama has been welcomed like
royalty in India as he started a three-day visit aimed at
turning his burgeoning rapport with the prime minister,
Narendra Modi, into progress on climate change,
defence and economic issues.
Obama’s arrival in the bustling capital of New Delhi on
Sunday morning marked the first time an American
leader has visited India twice during his presidency.
Obama is also the first to be invited to attend India’s
Republic Day festivities, which begin on Monday and
mark the anniversary of the enactment of the country’s
democratic constitution.
Modi, wearing a gold kurta, was at the airport to greet
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Obama at the foot of Air Force One with a huge
embrace. Obama returned the gesture, patting the
prime minister on the back several times.
Obama’s limousine was later escorted through a metal
gate and into the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan,
India’s presidential palace, by a cavalry regiment of the
Indian army. He was welcomed with a booming 21-gun
salute and inspected an honour guard.
“It’s a great honour,” Obama said when reporters
asked for his thoughts on attending Republic Day. “We
are so grateful for the extraordinary hospitality.”
The mere fact that the talks were happening was being
viewed as a sign of progress given the recent tensions
that have marred relations between the US and India.
High on Obama’s agenda with Modi is progress on
getting the heavily polluted country to agree to curb
carbon emissions. White House officials hope the
surprise climate agreement the US struck with China in
November might spur India to take similar steps.
Obama is also expected to push Modi to make
changes to liability legislation in India that has
prevented US companies from capitalising on a
landmark civil nuclear agreement between the two
countries in 2008.
Ahead of the big day of celebration, Obama walked in
his socks into a walled courtyard to lay a large white
wreath at the site where Mahatma Gandhi was
cremated. He then shovelled earth and poured a
pitcher of water around a young tree planted in his
honour at the memorial.
But in a move likely to take some of the symbolic shine
off of Obama’s trip, the White House announced
shortly before he departed from Washington that the
president had cancelled plans to visit the Taj Mahal in
Agra. The president and first lady had planned to tour
the famed white marble monument of love on
Tuesday, but instead will go to Saudi Arabia to pay
respects to the royal family following the death of King
Abdullah.
India’s relationship with the US plummeted in 2013
when the Indian deputy consul general, Devyani
Khobragade, was arrested and strip-searched in New
York over allegations that she lied on visa forms to
bring her maid to the US while paying her a pittance.
Her treatment caused outrage in New Delhi and India
retaliated against US diplomats.
Ties between the US and India have been steadily
improving since Modi took office last May. He and
Obama met for the first time late last year in
Washington, and officials from both countries say they
quickly developed an easy chemistry.
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That came as something of a surprise to regional
analysts given Modi’s difficult history with the US. He
was denied a visa to the US in 2005, three years after
religious riots killed more than 1,000 Muslims in the
Indian state where he was the top elected official.
“I think Modi surprised everyone by, with very little
hesitation, embracing the United States,” said Milan
Vaishnav, a South Asia expert at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace. “To give credit
where credit is due, the Obama administration stepped
in very quickly after his election to signal that he was
willing to do business.”
Obama also had a good rapport with the former Indian
prime minister, Manmohan Singh. However, US
officials expressed some frustration that their personal
warmth never translated into policy breakthroughs.
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