The new Prime Minister is committed to pro-market policies and engagements in the fields of defence and technology; his decision shows that he will not allow the past American slight of denying him a visa to get in the way of his government’s efforts to build bridges.
Modi’s approach is not expected to be a big departure from AB Vajpayee’s legacy. Vajpayee had called the US a “natural ally” and reached out to Washington strategically. It was Vajpayee who began the negotations on the Nuclear Deal with Washington. The Vajpayee Government had also ignored the anti-US clamour across the political aisle and backed American intervention in Afghanistan.