M A I N   N E W S

Washington DC diary
The Modi moment in the White House
Raj Chengappa  in Washington DC

Kem Cho, Mr Prime Minister

When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi drove across for dinner to the White House last night, US President Barack Obama surprised him when he greeted him at the door by saying: “Kem Cho (Gujarati for welcome), Mr Prime Minister.” Modi usually prefers to reply in Hindi and has a translator at hand to help out. But on this occasion instead of replying “Dhanyavaad” he smiled and said, “Thank you, Mr President.” Touche! Mr PM.

Michelle Obama absent

Once inside the White House, it was apparent that it was a not so private dinner as earlier billed. Michelle Obama did not make an appearance – the Indian spokesperson played down her absence stating there was no prior commitment and she was probably out of town. The occasion was converted into almost a working dinner with Obama flanked by Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry, National Security Adviser Susan Rice and four other top US officials. The Indian side included External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh and India’s Ambassador to the US S Jaishankar.

Of fasts and feastings

With Modi on a fast, only a glass of warm water was served to him. But he told his hosts not to be embarrassed or eat frugally. The others present feasted on a menu consisting of compressed avocados, with goat cheese, bell peppers, micro-basil, grape-seed oil and red peppers as the starter. The main course was Crisped Halibut with ginger carrot sauce, saffron basmati rice and farm-stand succotash. To wash the food down Shafer Chardonnay “Red Shoulder” 2010 was served. Desert was a Mango Crème Bruilee and Ginger Tuille.

First day, first show

Modi and Obama discovered they had much in common when they met. Both are tech savvy, tweet daily and had harnessed the social media to great effect to win support during their respective election campaigns. Both came to their respective capitals as outsiders – Obama was a Senator from Chicago and promised to rid Washington of ‘beltway politics’ while Modi was Chief Minister of Gujarat who was determined to do away with the Delhi durbar. During dinner they bonded well on their experiences while just joining office. Modi told Obama how when he came to Delhi he even found the telephone in his office archaic as compared to the ones he had in Gujarat. Obama laughed and narrated how he had to get the White House staff more wired to the technological revolution.

Chalein saath saath

Narendra Modi, known for coining catchy phrases, even got President Barack Obama hooked to the sound bite bug. At the start of the two-day bilateral visit, Modi and Obama jointly penned a vision statement titled: Chalein Saath Saath (We will go forward together). The statement laid down how the two nations could build “a transformative relationship” by Saath Saath (together) tackling nuclear disarmament, global trade, climate change, poverty, diseases and women’s empowerment. During the 90-minute dinner discussion they went over many of these topics with Modi first outlining what were his major thrust areas soon after taking office and why.

Digital diplomacy

President Barack Obama escorts Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial in Washington on Tuesday.PTI

Modi and Obama have always chosen unorthodox means of communication. A few days prior to their summit meeting, they decided that they would jointly work on an unusual way of putting their views across to the public in a way that symbolised that there were on the same page on all issues. So apart from the vision statement, on the day of the summit they chose the venerable Washington Post to publish on-line a joint OPED article titled: A renewed US-India partnership for the 21st century. In the their article they admitted that, “the true potential of our relationship had not been fully realised” and promised to set “a new agenda” that would go beyond “modest and conventional goals.

Modi’s thoughtful gifts

Modi thinks of everything including what gifts to present and what places to visit to make a statement. Apart from the standard official gifts like artifacts, Modi took pains to research Obama’s interests and got his staff to work on presenting him gifts he would care for. Knowing that both Gandhi and Martin Luther inspired Obama, he had a special edition of the Mahatma’s interpretation of the Bhagvad Gita printed with a cover that was khadi-bound apart from a framed picture of the famed Black US leader when he visited India and a video clip of King paying homage at Rajghat. The next morning Modi paid homage to the Martin Luther King memorial in Washington DC and then a floral tribute to the Mahatma Gandhi statue at the Indian Embassy. Both these events are a statement of the Modi’s commitment to the equality of all to get rid of all forms of oppression.