IANS | 10 Apr, 2024
The Jindal School of International Affairs, the Jindal India
Institute, and the Jindal Global Centre for G20 Studies jointly hosted
Eric M. Garcetti, Ambassador of the US to India, on the campus of O. P.
Jindal Global University in Sonipat. Ambassador Garcetti delivered a
distinguished public lecture on the theme ‘The Most Consequential
Relationship of
the Century: Indo-American Ties’ to an audience of more than 200
students and faculty members.
Against the backdrop of deepening
and broadening US-India relations, which are drawing global attention,
this lecture held profound significance. Ambassador Garcetti's
perspective on Indo-American ties transcended diplomatic cliches and
delved into shared aspirations and the collective pursuit of a world
characterised by '4 Ps' - peace, prosperity, planet, and people.
Ambassador
Garcetti also narrated personal memories of magical moments he
experienced during his visits to India since childhood. He said he had a
deep emotional connection with India for decades and remarked that
"India never left my soul".
He mentioned that US President Joe
Biden had told him that India "was the most important country in the
world" and that Washington's ties with New Delhi were "the most
consequential" for shaping the world order in the 21st century.
Ambassador
Garcetti termed the ties between the US and India as "not an additive
relationship but a multiplicative relationship" between the world's two
largest democracies, underscored by a robust exchange in education,
trade, and the joint venture of envisioning a green energy future.
During the interactive session that followed, the audience engaged the
Ambassador on a diverse array of topics spanning domestic politics in
India, racial discrimination in the US, regional security dynamics in
the Indo-Pacific, the role of Artificial Intelligence and critical and
emerging technologies in the US-India strategic partnership, and the
potential of multilateral groupings like Quad being expanded or extended
to include more countries.
On controversies regarding comments
made by the US about internal developments in India, Ambassador Garcetti
said that the US is a unique democracy where every branch of
government, the news media and civil society has its own views and
opinions about different countries. These opinions are frequently aired
publicly as part of the open American political system. At the same
time, the US is ready to also take criticism from other countries as
part of this liberal ethos. Ambassador Garcetti praised India for
organising the upcoming mammoth general elections with nearly one
billion voters in the electorate and said that "the US has something to
learn from India" in how to improve its electoral practices and
procedures.
On the question of Arunachal Pradesh being an integral
part of India, the Ambassador was categorical that China has no
business in renaming places that are part of India’s sovereign
territory. He reiterated that the US fully supports India's sovereignty
and that the defence cooperation between the two partners is reaching
unprecedented levels to deter aggressive authoritarian rival countries.
He said that as two democracies, the US and India thought and felt alike
about the threat posed by dictatorial regimes like that of China and
that the convergence of values was the key factor driving Washington and
New Delhi closer.
Speaking on this occasion, C. Raj Kumar, the
Founding Vice Chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University, remarked, "We
owe a tremendous intellectual debt to American universities for their
open and generous support and capacity building of Indian higher
education institutions. The way US universities have attained the
highest standards in the world and solved the most intractable problems
facing humanity is worth learning from and emulating for Indian
academia. Education is going to be a transformative driving factor in
the US-India partnership."
The Dean of the Jindal School of
International Affairs, Dr. Sreeram Chaulia, who was also present at the
event, cited Ambassador Garcetti’s view that the US-India partnership
had presently only reached the point of being "midway up the mountain"
and referred to the limitless possibilities that lay ahead.
Chaulia
echoed External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar's comments that "you
ain't seen anything yet" in the US-India friendship and pointed to the
fact that "the two countries were jointly combating shared adversaries
and remaking the Indo-Pacific in a way that only allies do."
While
the US and India are not formal allies, many of the domains of
bilateral cooperation are “going in the direction of a de facto
alliance-like friendship."
Owing to this level of close intimacy,
it is not uncommon that the US and India disagree on some matters. But
"the basic fundamentals of the relationship are so strong that such
disagreements and differences in assessment should not be exaggerated",
Chaulia concluded.