Close X
Friday, November 29, 2024
ADVT 
International

Modi-Obama Bond An 'Unlikely Friendship': New York Times

The Canadian Press, 06 Jun, 2016 11:26 AM
    As President Obama gets ready to host Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the White House for the second time in as many years, a New York Times report describes the bond between the two as an "unlikely friendship".
     
    "There are few relationships between Obama and another world leader more unlikely than the one he has with Modi," The New York Times said ahead of what will be the seventh meeting between the Indian prime minister and the US president.
     
    The report said the two largest democracies in the world have "compelling reasons" to find common cause.
     
    For example, the US is encouraging India's rise as a regional giant for Obama's so-called "pivot to Asia" policy and counter China's global economic and military superpower ambitions.
     
    For India, the US bond, according to the Times, is needed to "accelerate its economy with an injection of investment from American companies".
     
     
    But the relationship between Modi and Obama is still "unlikely".
     
    The Times said Obama has made the protection of minorities a central pillar of his life because he believes that "criticism and dissent are core tenets of democracy".
     
    "But Modi, by contrast, spent much of his life rising through the ranks of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a right-wing paramilitary organization that campaigns forcefully for India's Hindu majority," it said, recalling the Gujarat religious riots that saw some 1,000 people, most of them Muslims, killed in 2002 when Modi was the chief minister of the western Indian state.
     
    The 2002 Gujarat carnage is again in the spotlight because a court only last week convicted 24 people for massacring 69 Muslims in mayhem at Ahmedabad's Gulberg Housing society neighbourhood.
     
     
    The Times, citing a Human Rights Watch report, said the BJP government in India has "increasingly used the country's broad and vague laws restricting free speech to stifle dissent".
     
    The newspaper also raised the issue of shutting down non-governmental organisations, such as Greenpeace -- a global aid group that has offices in over 40 countries.
     
    On a personal front, the Times said, both leaders "avoid the socializing common in their capitals".
     
    "Obama is a doting father and dutiful husband who maintains close bonds with his childhood friends...Modi abandoned his arranged marriage decades ago and has no children or any public friendships."
     
    The newspaper, however, drew some "similarities that extend beyond political beliefs" between the two.
     
     
    Both men rose from modest circumstances, had difficult relationships with their fathers and were widely considered transformational figures when elected.
     
    "Modi's humble origins, largely corruption-free government and intense focus on winning foreign investment are sharp breaks from his predecessor," it said.
     
    "And parts of Modi's political operation, in particular its effective use of social media, were based on Obama's model."
     
    Ashley J. Tellis, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told the Times that both men "are remarkably warm and have a personal graciousness about them that is very evident in personal encounters".
     
    Raymond E. Vickery, a former United States assistant secretary of commerce, said both had grown up as outsiders and valued frankness.
     
     
    "Modi is a really down-to-earth guy who tries to answer your questions and doesn't just go to talking points," Vickery said.

    MORE International ARTICLES

    Earthquake Of Magnitude 5.6 Jolts Japan

    Earthquake Of Magnitude 5.6 Jolts Japan
    The quake struck at 9:23 p.m. local time at a latitude of 36.0 degrees north and longitude of 139.9 degrees east, Xinhua reported. 

    Earthquake Of Magnitude 5.6 Jolts Japan

    New Website Helps Germans And Migrants Meet, Talk About Life

    New Website Helps Germans And Migrants Meet, Talk About Life
    Thousands of migrants were pouring into Germany every day, but the 36-year-old startup consultant from Berlin hadn't met a single one of them.

    New Website Helps Germans And Migrants Meet, Talk About Life

    Indian Descent Congressman Ami Bera's Re-Election At Risk By Father's Illegal Financing

    Indian Descent Congressman Ami Bera's Re-Election At Risk By Father's Illegal Financing
    The 83-year-old father of Ami Bera, the only Indian descent Congressman, has pleaded guilty to illegally funding his son's election campaigns with at least $260,000. putting at risk his reelection in November.

    Indian Descent Congressman Ami Bera's Re-Election At Risk By Father's Illegal Financing

    Canadians Sought After Man Shot Seven Times In The Head In Dubai

    Canadians Sought After Man Shot Seven Times In The Head In Dubai
    Dubai's police chief, Maj. Gen. Khamis Mattar al-Mazeina, said the victim "used to carry an Iranian passport and then had a Turkish one."

    Canadians Sought After Man Shot Seven Times In The Head In Dubai

    Iraqi Family 'Burnt Alive' By Islamic State

    Iraqi Family 'Burnt Alive' By Islamic State
    The family, which included two children, had defied an order from the IS in the Riyadh district, forbidding residents to leave the area, said Syrian website 

    Iraqi Family 'Burnt Alive' By Islamic State

    Emirates Group announces record profits

    Emirates Group announces record profits
    During the 2015-16 financial year, both Emirates and dnata achieved new capacity and profit milestones, as the Group continued to expand its global footprint, and strengthen its business through strategic investments. 

    Emirates Group announces record profits