How back-channel talks set stage for PM's US visit

The secret of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's early visit to Washington DC lies with two central protagonists and in four visits.

- Prashant Jha

WASHINGTON:

The central characters in this saga are Michael Waltz and S Jaishankar. And the plot begins with Waltz's visit to Delhi in August 2023, and Jaishankar's three visits to Washington DC in the last five months. Together, it is a saga of providence, astute diplomatic investment, political signaling, and confident engagement.

The Waltz connection On the occasion of the completion of the celebrations of 75 years of Independence, the Indian government invited a special Congressional delegation of members of the House India caucus, led by Congressman Waltz, then a Republican representative from Florida, and Ro Khanna, a Democratic representative from California.

Waltz was not particularly well-known, but Indian diplomats of the time had done well in identifying him as a rising star in the Republican Party. He was a veteran of the Afghanistan war, furious with the manner of US withdrawal from Kabul but also now instinctively trained to spot Pakistani duplicity. His wife, Julia Nesheiwat, had served as Trump's homeland security advisor in the final year of his first term.

On the morning of Independence Day, Waltz made the trek to Red Fort to listen to Modi in the sun, as the PM acknowledged the presence of his delegation. After the event, Waltz said, "It was an amazing honour to be there. This was where [Jawaharlal] Nehru famously raised the tricolour on Indian Independence Day on August 15th. And to stand there, in front of the Red Fort, to see Modi give his address to his nation was an amazing honour. And I thought it was also incredible to hear him lay out a vision for India be a fully developed nation by 2047, the 100th year anniversary and his plan to achieve that."