With AUKUS for Defence, Quad Can Now Focus on Other Things

In my previous assessment, I outlined why Indo-US ties are party agnostic and how the days of bellicosity of the Nixon and Kissinger and President Bill Clinton’s first term with Robin Raphel, the first Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, are relics of the Cold War era.

2021 marks a seminal year for India since it is celebrating thirty years of economic reforms. The last three decades have also reset the special friendship between Washington and Delhi. Not only did India move away from a perceived bonhomie with Moscow, but as the Indian economy liberalised, it opened up to American investments. Since then, India has moved from being a country seeking aid to one that engages directly with the United States on trade.

In the last three decades alone, India-US relations have gone from strength to strength under different administrations across both parties. Convivial ties developed between Clinton and Vajpayee (a Democrat and a BJP Prime Minister), Bush and Vajpayee (a Republican and a BJP Prime Minister), Bush and Dr. Manmohan Singh (a Republican and a Congress Prime Minister), Obama and Dr. Singh (a Democrat and a Congress Prime Minister), Obama and Modi (a Democrat and a BJP Prime Minister), Trump and Modi (a Republican and BJP Prime Minister), and circling back to where it started, a Democrat and a BJP representative with Biden and Modi. This shows that every party permutation and combination has been tested and the bilateral partnership remains robust and resilient.

Originally published at https://www.thequint.com on September 24, 2021.