Opinion From Manmohan Singh to Narendra Modi — PMs’ speeches and evolving India-US relationship

Modi said in 2016, “And, the flow of goods, services and capital between us generates jobs in both our societies. As in trade, so in defence. India exercises with the United States more than we do with any other partner. Defence purchases have moved from almost zero to ten billion dollars in less than a decade. Our cooperation also secures our cities and citizens from terrorists, and protects our critical infrastructure from cyber threats.”

In 2016, Modi at that time did refer to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s address to the same US Congress in September 2000, who had given a “call to step out of the ‘shadow of hesitation’ of the past”. And PM Modi then declared, “Today, our relationship has overcome the hesitations of history.”

But it took another seven years for the needle to move, where an Indian Prime Minister can talk about defence ties with the US publicly, without a political cost at home.

So, while he framed it carefully, by invoking the job-creation aspect, he said, “When defence and aerospace in India grow, industries in the states of Washington, Arizona, Georgia, Alabama, South Carolina, and Pennsylvania thrive. When American companies grow, their research and development centres in India thrive.”

But then, he pronounced quite clearly that “the United States has become one of our most important defence partners.”

While defence deals in the form of technology transfer in the GE jet engine deal and the drones deal where India’s plans to procure General Atomics MQ-9B HALE UAVs is one of the key takeaways, the other major takeaway is the high-intensity cooperation in “critical and emerging technologies”.

This is a new transformative area, which India and the US started discussing formally just about a year ago. And the NSAs have been put in charge: To discuss the entire gamut, from semiconductors to artificial intelligence to quantum computing.

Again, to see how the needle has moved in the technology domain, one has to go back to Manmohan Singh’s 2005 address to the US Congress: He framed it in the context of the technology denial regime, as he was laying the first foundation stone of the nuclear deal.

“India’s growth and prosperity is in American interest. American investments in India, especially in new technology areas, will help American companies to reduce costs and become more competitive globally.” And, he framed it in the context of trade and investments, especially in the IT sector: “Equally, India’s earnings from these investments will lead to increased purchases from the United States. The information technology revolution in India is built primarily on US computer-related technology and hardware. There are many other examples of such two-way benefits, with both sides gaining from the process.”

Fast forward to 2016, Modi said, “Transformative American technologies in India and growing investment by Indian companies in the United States both have a positive impact on the lives of our citizens. Today, for their global research and development centres, India is the destination of choice for the US companies.”

And, then he said that India and the US have combined their strengths in science, technology and innovation to help fight hunger, poverty, diseases and illiteracy in different parts of the world.

But, in 2023, the technology cooperation spans across sectors, as this new transformative area spans drones to engines to semiconductors to space. “Technology will determine the security, prosperity and leadership in the twenty-first century. That is why our two countries established a new ‘Initiative for Critical and Emerging Technologies’. Our knowledge partnership will serve humanity and seek solutions to the global challenges of climate change, hunger and health,” he said last night.

In a nutshell, what Manmohan Singh began by signing the Indo-US nuclear deal, Modi has continued, by moving the needle in the core strategic sectors — defence and high-end technology. And, he has now spelt it out in public, in the clearest terms.

The fact that China has been the disruptor-in-chief — in terms of mobilising troops in the India-China border and belligerence in the Indo-Pacific, or the fact that too much dependence on Chinese manufacturing has made the supply chains unreliable — has made Delhi’s strategic choice easy, and with zero political repercussions back home.

Postscript: The Indo-US joint statement issued by the Ministry of External Affairs in India this time spells defence as “defense” throughout the text — the American spelling.

shubhajit.roy@expressindia.com