Modi's visit to US was a mutual win, says Tellis

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the US was a "great success" and a "winwin" for both sides; concerns over China remains the big driver of enhanced collaboration across spheres; and the US bet on India is a "good one, within limits" and recognising constraints will help protect the partnership against frustration, Ashley J Tellis, among the foremost scholars on the India-US relationship, has said.

- Prashant Jha

Tellis, who is the Tata Chair for Strategic Affairs at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, also warned that while the dispute over values has not affected ties due to the efforts of the two governments, "especially (Joe) Biden administration's unwillingness to bludgeon India over human rights and religious freedoms", it had the potential to constrain the transformation of ties to the disadvantage of both countries.

Tellis suggested that there was increased criticism of developments in India not just among Democratic Left in the US, but also among Republicans, on the Hill, in the diaspora and in American civil society and it was due to the importance of India in the competition with China that the administration was averse to push the issue.

In a conversation with HT, conducted over email, two weeks after Modi's state visit, while ranking Manmohan Singh's 2005 visit to the US as a truly transformational encounter, Tellis said that on its own merits, Modi's visit was a "great success".