Biden-Harris: The Reset And India

The real message of a Biden presidency will be more political than either strategic or economic.

- Sanjaya Baru

IN HIS FIRST TELEPHONIC conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, United States President-elect Joseph Biden defined his immediate priorities for the U.S.-India relationship. Biden reportedly told Modi that he looks forward to working closely with the Indian prime minister on shared global challenges, including containing Covid-19 and defending against future health crises, tackling climate change, launching a global economic recovery, strengthening democracy at home and abroad, and maintaining a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.

Most of that statement would have been welcomed by Biden’s Indian interlocutor but the Indian government’s statement on the call chose, curiously, not to mention the reference to “strengthening democracy at home and abroad”. Therein lies the rub. There is little doubt that the Bharatiya Janata Party and Prime Minister Modi would have hoped to see President Donald Trump get a second term in office. While it is true, as many analysts have said, that the bilateral relationship between India and the U.S. is now by and large immune to domestic political change in both countries, the fact is that Trump was Modi’s default option.

Given the very divisive politics in both countries, the sting in the tail of Biden’s message would not have gone unnoticed in India. While Biden has been less vocal, his running mate, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris has been tough on the BJP’s record on human rights, in general, and rights of minorities in particular. As a member of a U.S. minority—Asian-African-American—Harris would be more sensitive to the BJP’s Hindu majoritarianism.