READ ALSO:

Obama, Modi pledge to intensify maritime security

READ ALSO:

'Chalein Saath Saath': Modi, Obama write first joint editorial

WASHINGTON: President Obama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi set US-India ties on a higher plane on Tuesday with a high-minded and forward looking approach that transcended workaday wrinkles, past individual histories, and institutional wrangles.From the moment Obama greeted Modi in Gujarati ("Kem cho, Mr Prime Minister?") on the portals of the White House on Monday evening to the time he accompanied him to Martin Luther King memorial on Tuesday afternoon in an unscripted gesture of togetherness, it was clear that the two leaders had decided to jettison all personal, bureaucratic, and diplomatic baggage to focus on elevating the overused expression of the underachieving "strategic partnership."Enhanced security partnership to address the threat of terrorism, including from Pakistan-based groups, and heightened defence and space cooperation, including a joint mission to Mars, were the centerpiece of expansive security engagement.Modi, Obama bond over political banter, issue expansive vision statementThe US President also affirmed that India meets the requirements and is ready for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the Missile Technology Control Regime. They also agreed to press forward on UN reforms to pave way for India's membership of the security council. They also agreed to extend the framework agreement of defence between the two countries for a further ten years.There were a score of deliverables that will touch the life of every urban Indian. They include an agreement for the US to partner India in developing three smart cities: Allahabad, Ajmer, and Vishakapatnam; US help in upgrading Water, Sanitation, and Health in 500 Indian cities under programme titled WASH; US help in developing smart energy initiatives such as intelligent street lighting and rooftop renewables in numerous Indian cities; and a programme under which 1000 American teachers will teach short-term in Indian universities. The US will also set up a new IIT.President Barack Obama escorts Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial in Washington on Tuesday. PTI Photo)The agreement that attracted most attention from the Indian media was the reference to the "joint and concerted efforts" for dismantling of safe havens of terrorists and criminal networks such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e- Mohamed, and D-company, Haqqani Netowrk and al-Qaida. Asked if this implied joint military intelligence action in Pakistan, spokesman Syed Akbaruddin said there was no need to elaborate and the people concerned will understand the signs and the reading on the wall.The occasional wrinkle remained but nothing that held up the relentless march towards a 21st century alliance. Modi told the US President he hopes for a deal soon to allow WTO trade facilitation which India has held up because of its concerns on food security for its poor. He also said India is also serious about resolution of the civil nuclear deal dispute.Successive heads of government of the two countries going back to Clinton and Vajpayee have pursued ever closer engagement, but what Modi and Obama, two of the more unlikely comrades-in-arms have done is to pull it out of the mire it had fallen in lately and set it on a vigorous and unswerving path. There was promise of UNSC membership from the US, a pledge to support US goals by India, and in general, their statements and op-ed bespoke of an alliance in all but name."The true potential of our relationship has yet to be fully realized. The advent of a new government in India is a natural opportunity to broaden and deepen our relationship. With a reinvigorated level of ambition and greater confidence, we can go beyond modest and conventional goals. It is time to set a new agenda, one that realizes concrete benefits for our citizens," the two men wrote in a joint editorial in the Washington Post in yet another expression of togetherness that suggested they were not going to allow minor wrangles to trip up the ties. It also signaled Washington's investment in the Modi government for the foreseeable future.The two sides also held out an unspoken assurance that the partnership was not aimed at any particularly country or alliance, maintaining that their engagement will result in a better world.While our shared efforts will benefit our own people, our partnership aspires to be larger than merely the sum of its parts. As nations, as people, we aspire to a better future for all; one in which our strategic partnership also produces benefits for the world at large, they said, concluding their op-ed with the new catch phrase that headlined their vision statement: Chalein Saath Saath.