India and USA are the biggest democracies of the world. They share values of democracy that was evolved in process and holding remarkable democratic institutions these are model for the world.
USA is now at the top position globally in economy, science, technology and defence though there were differences between two countries few decades ago but in the last two decades the relations have been developed in a significant way and during the visit of Donald Trump in India it has reached to a new height. The important speeches, comments made by Indian Prime minister Modi and US president Trump are given below to show development of relations.
Addressing a huge crowd at 'Namaste Trump' event at the Motera stadium here, the US president, accompanied by his wife Melania and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, talked about India's great tradition of embracing individual freedom, rule of law, dignity of every human being and where people worship side-by-side in harmony.
On his maiden visit, Trump, who was welcomed by Modi on his arrival here, and called the Prime Minister an "exceptional leader" who works day and night for the country.
"India and the US are committed to fight against terrorists and their ideology; that is why my government is working with Pakistan to crack down on terror groups." India and the US are committed to defend their people from radical Islamic terrorism, resolved to significantly expand defence ties and are working on a "fantastic" trade deal, said US President Donald Trump while asserting that his country "loves" and is "loyal" to India.
He also announced that the two countries would firm up defence deals worth $3 billion and that the US will become India's premier defence partner. "India and US have natural and enduring friendship," Trump said to a cheering crowd. "We are quickly revitalizing our alliances all around world," he said. Trump said both countries are working on a "fantastic trade" deal, and observed that Modi is a "tough negotiator".
The US president also heaped praises on Modi, saying the Prime Minister is a "living proof" of what an Indian can achieve with hard work as Trump referred to his humble background as a tea-seller, who had a landslide win in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
On his part, Modi welcomed Trump to "world's largest democracy" and said a "new history" was being created. Modi also praised Trump's leadership in containing terrorism.
Trump said as the world's largest economy, India gives hope to all humanity and has become an economic giant. It may be mentionable that India occupies the 5th position in GDP in the world according to IMF. It will occupy the 3rd position in 2032. Goldman Sachs predicted that India would occupy top position in 2050 in economy.
We know India has occupied the fourth position in science, technology specially in space research, it has occupied fourth position in armed forces in the world. "There is a difference between a nation that rises by coercion and one that rises by setting its people free -- that is India. India and the US have natural and enduring friendship," he said.
He also touched on India's cultural diversity and he highlighted the success of its blockbuster movies like DDLJ (Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge) and Sholay, and its sporting icons like Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.
We know India is competing Holywood and European culture across the globe and sports especially cricket is in the leading position. He highlighted the boom in the US economy under his presidency and added that India will soon be home to the biggest middle class as it will eliminate extreme poverty in the next 10 years.
On his part, Modi said ties between India and the US are no longer just another partnership but have touched far greater heights. Visit of President Trump to India with his family shows strong ties between India and the US, said Modi. Later, Trump and Melania flew to the Taj Mahal for sunset before the main official talks. US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump listen to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as they sit next to a charkha, or spinning wheel, during their visit to Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad.
US President Donald Trump received a red-carpet welcome in the world's biggest democracy. Trade tensions have grown between the US and India, the world's fifth-biggest economy, as Trump's "America First" drive collides with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's protectionist "Make in India" mantra.
Visiting Modi's home state of Gujarat, Trump and First Lady Melania visited independence hero Mahatma Gandhi's ashram, where Modi gifted him a "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" three wise monkey's statue. Then headed to a new cricket stadium-the biggest in the world-where Trump heaped praise on Modi as an "exceptional leader, a great champion of India" in front of a crowd of around 100,000. "America loves India.
America respects India, and America will always be faithful and loyal friends to the Indian people," Trump told crowd, he also said "As the great religious teacher Swami Vivekananda once said, 'the moment I stand in reverence before every human being and see God in him, that moment I am free',". We know in religious point of view the universe, nature and the human beings are the creation of God. Soul is linked up with supreme soul.
So, every body should be respected that leads to equality in democracy in modern world. It is mentionable that Swami Bibekananda declared in world parliament of religion in Chicago, USA in 1893 that if one religion is true others are also true, that indicates equal status for all religion and so human being.It may be remembered that in American Civil war to establish rights for all greatest personality Abraham Lincoln said in Gettysburg in 1863 that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Father of India Mohatma Ghandi in Quit India speech in 1942 said that In the democracy which I have envisaged, a democracy established by non-violence, there will be equal freedom for all. Everybody will be his own master.
Our Father of the Nation Bangabandhu said in historical speech in 1971 that the struggle this time is a struggle for our emancipation, the struggle this time is a struggle for our independence! . Founder of democratic South Africa, Nelson Mendela said in 1964 I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all people will live together in harmony and with equal opportunities.
So, democratic struggle will not go in vain and so democratic countries of the world will help to establish democracy across the world. In Washington, India has faced opinion over Kashmir, and the recently passed citizenship law. We know India has overcome obstacles in different phases in building its democratic system and democratic process will solve the present problem in political process.
Ever since Bill Clinton visited 20 years ago, India-US relations have warmed politically, economically and strategically. India being the world's fifth largest economy, according to the International Monetary Fund, ahead of Britain and France, and will become the planet's most populous country by 2027, the UN projects. US-India trade volumes ballooned to more than $140 billion in 2018 from $19 billion in 2000, according to the US government.
The Indian diaspora in the US is estimated at four million and they are major contributors in Silicon Valley in particular. The chief executives of Microsoft and Google both were born in India. During Trump's visit, India may agree to the sale of five nuclear reactors, the fruit of a landmark but contentious atomic deal signed under then leaders George W. Bush and Manmohan Singh in the 2000s.
Even though the US trade deficit with India fell from $30 billion in 2016 to $25 billion in 2018. "They've been hitting us very, very hard for many, many years," Trump said before his trip. Trump in 2018 imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium from India and elsewhere, and last year suspended India's duty-free privileges under the decades-old US Generalized System of Preferences programme.
The US and India share a mistrust of China. India and China fought a short war in 1962 and in 2017 they had a tense military standoff over the disputed Himalayan territory of Doklam. Washington and New Delhi have been worried by China's growing clout in the Indian Ocean and relation with Pakistan.
In 2016, the US designated India as a "Major Defence Partner" and last year they signed a deal easing the transfer of advanced weaponry and the sharing of military communications. Trump also said he looked forward to Modi speaking more "about the progress we've made on fighter jets...and energy."
The two countries are expected to announce military helicopter deals worth $3 billion as India increasingly turns to the United States for modernizing its military from traditional supplier, Russia. Modi is pulling all the stops for Trump's visit seen as a deepening of ties between the world's biggest democracies that are trying to counter the economic and military weight of China in Asia that is against freedom and democracy.
India is one of the few big countries in the world where Trump's personal approval rating is above 50% and Trump's trip has got wall-to-wall coverage with commentators saying he had hit all the right notes on his first official visit to the world's biggest democracy.
But in a sign of the underlying political tensions in India, violent protests broke out in Delhi on over a new citizenship law, CAA. In his speech, Trump extolled India's rise as a stable and prosperous democracy as one of the achievements of the century. "You have done it as a tolerant country. And you have done it as a great, free country," he said.
In a major setback to the Pakistan's Imran Khan government, President Donald Trump reiterated in Delhi that India and the US were together in their fight against "radical Islamic terrorism" and his government was committed to "confront" terrorists operating from Pakistan's soil.
In a joint press briefing of the US and India, President Trump at Hyderabad House in the capital said during his discussions with Prime Minister Narendra Modi: "the two countries agreed to protect their citizens from radical Islamic terrorism".
During the briefing, both Trump and PM Modi reaffirmed their commitment to US-India strategic partnership in all areas from defence to women empowerment. India-USA are consulting and cooperating in Afgan-Taliban problem as well as COVID-19 problems also recently.
The US President said that during their discussions in New Delhi, the two countries have agreed to expand defence cooperation. India, he said, is "to purchase more than $3 billion of advance American military equipment, Apache and MH60 Romeo helicopters, the finest in the world."
These deals, he said, will enhance the US-India joint defence capability as militaries of the countries continue to train and operate side by side. President Trump said that together with Modi, they were revitalizing the QUAD initiative with US, India, Australia and Japan.
He said the first ministerial meeting on QUAD was "so much more than a meeting" because they had agreed to cooperate on counter-terrorism, cyber security and maritime security for a free and open Indo-Pacific region. We know that China is in conflict with almost all the South-East Asian countries regarding demarcation in South China Sea.
China is not respectful with The Hague Tribunal verdict. So, joint efforts is necessary for peace. We hope rimmed countries will come forward for peaceful nevigation actively. A similar framework can be applied to the India-US relationship, and the radical shift in ties. Larger forces have driven it. The 1991 economic reforms made India more open--and made the US slowly wake up to the potential of the Indian market.
The increasing role of the Indian diaspora in the US (it is nearly 1%) saw the emergence of a key constituency invested in deeper links. The role of US soft power--from popular culture to educational institutions--changed Indian attitudes towards it.
India began seeing the US as a valuable source of investment, technology, and as a form of geopolitical insurance. The US began seeing India as a valuable market, a democratic counterweight to China, and a source of stability in the US-dominated international system. The Indian nuclear tests of 1998 antagonized the US, but paradoxically, also opened the doors for deeper engagement--from Bill Clinton's visit to eventually the nuclear deal.
The Kargil War made India recognize that the US could actually be a source of support in tensions with Pakistan, which was further reinforced after the Parliament attacks. The 9/11 attacks changed US attitudes to terrorism, and made it more sympathetic to the Indian experience. And leaders played a key role.
From PV Narasimha Rao to Atal Bihari Vajpayee to Manmohan Singh to Narendra Modi, each Indian prime minister has worked on the partnership. It is mentionable that during the leadership of PM Narendra Modi the Indo-US strategic relationship has reached a remarkable height. On the American side, while both Clinton and Barack Obama deepened ties, it was George Bush who took a strategic bet with the nuclear deal.
Tagore said, ‘Now the West has opened up its gates, all are collecting its prized gifts and the same irreversible process of mutual exchange and assimilation is taking place once again in that (Indian) holy confluence of humanity.’
We hope these relations between two democracies will help for peace and progress not only in Asia but across the world.
The writer is an academic, former ambassador, leader-student action committee 71 and freedom fighter.
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