TOGETHER INDIA and the US are not just forming policies and agreements, “we are shaping lives, dreams and destinies”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Saturday, concluding his three-day state visit to the US. He said the partnership between India and the US will make the world better in the 21st century.
In his farewell speech to the Indian-American community, the Prime Minister said, “In the last three days, a new and glorious journey has started for India-US relations.” He said the world is watching the two great democracies strengthen their bond.
“The partnership between India and the United States will make the world better in the 21st century. You all play a crucial role in this partnership,” Modi said, addressing a gathering of the Indian diaspora at Ronald Reagan Center in Washington. The diaspora will play a big role in helping realise the true potential of the two countries’ ties and this is the right time to invest more and more in India, he said.
He cited massive infrastructure projects, which are in progress in the country, to assert that India’s new growth story is being written in many tier-2 and tier-3 cities. India is the mother of democracy and the US is the champion of modern democracy, the Prime Minister said, also lauding President Joe Biden as a seasoned and sorted leader, and praising his efforts in taking the India-US ties to a new high. “I publicly praise his efforts,” he said.
Earlier in the day, addressing business leaders and philanthropists from India and the US at the Kennedy Centre, Modi said, “The biggest driving force of India’s growth story is the aspiration of the Indian people, which is not very different from the American dream.” He said “extreme poverty is fast diminishing in India, while the middle-class and neo middle class are rapidly expanding”.
“Whatever India is going to do in order to fulfil the aspirations of these people, opens up immense possibilities for America as well,” he said, mentioning an increasing demand in India in the aviation sector. “To fulfil this demand, Indian airlines are ordering hundreds of aircraft from American companies, and jobs are being created here.”
Modi said history bears witness to the fact that a strong India augurs well for the world. Citing the pandemic era, he said, “When the world needed medicines, India increased its production and sent medical supplies to more than 150 countries. India also sent vaccines to more than 100 countries.”
At the diaspora event later, the Prime Minister said, “India is now witnessing an unprecedented digital revolution. The changing face of India will surprise you. ” He said the biggest driver for India’s progress today is its people’s self-confidence. “Hundreds of years of slavery had taken away this self-confidence from us,” he said.
Modi also mentioned a slew of measures and takeaways that were discussed and agreed upon during his visit to the US. “General Electric’s decision to manufacture fighter plane engines in India will be a milestone in India’s defence sector,” he said. “This new journey is of the cooperation of Make in India – Make for the world,” he said, referring to agreements on technology transfer, boosting manufacturing and strengthening industrial supply chain.
