Rain on India’s parade, but Obama visit keeps spirits high

Tuesday, 27 January 2015 00:05 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

NEW DELHI (Reuters): US President Barack Obama watched a dazzling parade of India’s military might and cultural diversity on Monday, the second day of a visit trumpeted as a chance to establish a robust strategic partnership between the world’s two largest democracies. It rained on the parade through the heart of New Delhi, but excitement nevertheless ran high over Obama’s landmark visit, which began on Sunday with a clutch of deals and ‘bromance’ bonding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The two leaders announced plans to unlock billions of dollars in nuclear trade and to deepen defence ties.

Most significant was an agreement on two issues that, despite a groundbreaking 2006 pact, had stopped US companies from setting up nuclear reactors in India and had become one of the major irritants in bilateral relations. “Mobama breaks N-deadlock,” the Mail Today newspaper said on its front page, which carried a photograph of Modi and Obama hugging each other warmly. The bonhomie was a remarkable spectacle, given that a year ago Modi was persona non grata in Washington and was banned from visiting the United States for nearly a decade after deadly Hindu-Muslim riots in a state he governed. Obama is the first US president to attend India’s Republic Day parade, an annual show of military prowess that was long associated with the anti-Americanism of the Cold War. A cheer went up as he and the first lady, Michelle Obama, stepped out of their car and walked up to the viewing dais. Obama then sat behind a rain-spotted screen with Modi as the parade unfolded along Rajpath, an elegant lawn-bordered boulevard dating from the British colonial era that connects the presidential palace to India Gate. Helicopters showered petals on the crowds, and then tanks, missiles, stiffly saluting soldiers, brass bands and dancers filed past the guests. Security was tight at the parade and across the city, where tens of thousands of police and paramilitary personnel were deployed on street corners and rooftops. Obama’s presence at the parade – at Modi’s personal invitation – marks the latest upturn in a roller-coaster bilateral relationship that just a year ago was in tatters. Bickering over protectionism culminated in a fiery diplomatic spat in 2013 and the abrupt departure of the US ambassador from New Delhi, who has only just been replaced. The United States views India as a vast market and potential counterweight in Asia to a more assertive China, but has frequently been frustrated with the slow pace of New Delhi’s economic reforms and unwillingness to side with Washington in international affairs. Elected last May, Modi has injected a new vitality into the economy and foreign relations and, to Washington’s delight, has begun pushing back against China across Asia.