US is Ensuring India is Asia's Net Security Provider

President Barack Obama defined the India-US relationship as a transformative and defining partnership of the 21st century. As his two-term presidency draws to a close, Group Editorial Director Raj Chengappa, in an exclusive interview with US Ambassador to India Richard Rahul Verma, 47, assesses just how far relations with India progressed under Obama’s tenure and what more needs to be done.

- Raj Chengappa

Do you think, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, that India and the US have finally overcome the hesitations of history?

Yes. We both had what he calls the hesitations of history. I refer to it as a gravitational pull, and we are trying to break out of its orbit. Because there were forces holding us back. And many of those were in the past. And I think it’s hard to cure those overnight. It takes time, and a building of trust.

Under President George W. Bush, the big-bang Indo-US nuclear deal went through. What are the key contributions of President Obama towards improving relations with India?

Where the change has come, it has been evolutionary. To put it simply, to supporting India’s rise as a leading power in the world. And it comes in many different facets. So in international institutions it was making sure they are reflective of India’s role in the world, not the post-World War II period where those institutions were built. The President saw a world where India will soon be the world’s most populous country. It will have the third biggest economy. It is the world’s largest democracy. Six years ago, he supported India’s accession to the nonproliferation regimes, so he’s been a big proponent of the re-architecture of our global political institutions, including the UN and the G20.