US-Indo BFFs: Modi, Obama break ice over dinner, warm water at White House

New York: President Barack Obama who is known for being polite but reserved made a special effort to make his dinner guest Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcome at the White House on Monday evening by spouting Gujarati. A major aspect of Modi’s five-day US visit is the chance for Obama and Modi to begin building a rapport and good working relationship. After Modi’s rock star reception at Madison Square Garden on Sunday afternoon, word must have reached Obama loud and clear that Modi is viewed as a messiah of change in India. “Khem Cho Mr Prime Minister,” Obama asked Modi amiably while shaking hands with him at the front door of the White House. Obama and Modi broke the ice over a small private dinner as they sought to mend soured relations between their countries after L’Affaire Khobragade. [caption id=“attachment_1736669” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Image from IBNlive[/caption] Joining them in the elegant oval-shaped Blue Room on the first floor of the White House was US Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, National Security Advisor Susan Rice and USAID chief Rajiv Shah. Modi was accompanied by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and India’s Ambassador to Washington S Jaishankar. Modi who is fasting for Navratri, a practice he’s maintained for the past 40 years, did not eat anything during dinner. “He only sipped warm water,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin. Obama’s courtship of Modi will continue on Tuesday with a more formal bilateral meeting at the Oval Office. Modi will also lunch with Biden and Kerry at the State Department and meet Congressional leaders on Capitol Hill. “Whether it’s security and counterterrorism or strengthening the economy or a host of other regional issues, there is a broad framework where India and the US work closely together to advance our shared interests,” said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. During their talks at the White House, Obama and Modi will discuss ways to increase counterterrorism and intelligence cooperation, joint military exercises and the nuclear deal. Modi is seeking greater US investment and trade between the two countries which is close to $100 billion. Both sides will set ambitious new targets during the visit by working through impediments. “Modi has made clear from his first day in office that he intends to cement a security partnership with Japan — a positive for America’s own strategic ambitions in the region. He will look to Obama for assurances that the United States will accelerate growing US-India security ties,” wrote Nicholas Burns, the former US undersecretary of state for political affairs and lead US negotiator of the civil nuclear deal i n The Washington Post. “At the same time, Modi will want further US help in confronting terrorist threats from Pakistani-based groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and in dealing with multiplying cyber-challenges,” added Burns. The two leaders will also address regional concerns, including Afghanistan, where US troops are currently playing a “support role,” focusing on training while still fighting when necessary. India has every reason to be nervous about the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. America needs to keep India informed in detail about its plans and intentions for the country, which hasn’t always been the case. Hours before meeting Obama, Modi had told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York that India had told the US that the process of withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan needed to be slow in order to stop the rise of the Taliban. “We want Afghanistan which recently held the presidential elections and formed a new government to grow democratically,” Modi told the Council on Foreign Relations in New York on Monday. “The process of withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan should be very slow. Afghanistan should be allowed to stand on its feet and then only can it stop the rise of the Taliban.” When the India-hating Taliban ruled Kabul from 1996 until December 2001, Pakistani militant groups based out of Afghanistan launched frequent cross-border attacks on Kashmir. India was also in all kinds of trouble when Pakistan-based Harkat-ul-Mujahideen terrorists hijacked an Indian Airlines flight on 24 December 1999 and took it to Kandahar airport in southern Afghanistan. The eight day hijack drama ended only after India freed three high-profile Kashmiri separatist prisoners.