US President Biden not coming for Republic Day, Quad set to be deferred

India had invited President Biden for the Republic Day celebrations as part of its plans to host the Quad leaders’ summit in January next year.

The Indian Express had first reported on September 7 New Delhi’s plans to invite the US President for Republic Day along with other Quad leaders, and hold the Quad summit in January.

Incidentally, on September 20, US Ambassador Eric Garcetti had confirmed that President Joe Biden had been invited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Republic Day celebrations.

During an interaction organised by the Ananta Centre, Garcetti, responding to a question on the Quad leaders being invited to the Republic Day celebrations, had said that the invitation to Biden was extended by Modi during their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi.

A final call, sources had said, would be taken only after ascertaining the availability of the leaders – President Biden, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

With Albanese busy with Australian national day on January 26, the earliest he could have come to India would have been January 27. And with the Japanese parliament, the Diet, in session at that time, Kishida would have also had to take leave of the House to come for the Quad summit.

But all was dependent on the US President’s schedule, which was awaited by the remaining three sides, so that the Quad summit could have taken place on January 27, a day after the Republic Day celebrations on January 26.

An invitation to be the Republic Day Chief Guest is highly symbolic from the Indian government’s perspective. A formal invitation is usually sent only after ascertaining informally the availability of the leaders.

Biden’s unavailability for the Republic Day and the postponement of the Quad summit comes when the US is currently investigating an alleged assassination plot of a Khalistan separatist on US soil. Since an Indian official is allegedly involved in planning the plot, the Indian government is also probing inputs shared by US agencies. The US federal prosecutors filed an indictment in November detailing the alleged plot against the separatist, who holds dual nationality of US and Canada.

This is the second time that the US President has not been able to come for the Republic Day celebrations. Former US President Donald Trump had been invited in 2018 to attend the January 2019 Republic Day celebrations but he, too, could not make it. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was invited at that time, after Trump had refused.

So far, only once has the US President come for the Republic Day celebrations — in January 2015 when then US President Barack Obama had come in the first year of the Modi government.

Now, all eyes will be on South Block to find a new guest for the Republic Day celebrations.

Officials from both Indian and the US sides say that the unavailability of the US President should not be seen as any shadow on the ties in the wake of the Pannun assassination plot.

Officials said that the two sides have deep stakes and vital interests at stake, and the Quad grouping will definitely meet towards the end of the year — after the elections are over and before the US elections cycle takes over.

While the US-China engagement has been underway, with Biden meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping recently in California, officials say that the commitment to the Quad grouping remains, and a summit — even at a later date — will be a strong signal to China whose aggressive behaviour in the Indo-Pacific region has brought the four countries together.