Modi at UNGA

PM Modi has every right to feel contented with his week-long stay in the US. No other Indian PM has addressed a mesmerised audience with an impressed American President by his side, addressed three roundtables of 60 top US MNCs, met all the high and mighty he wished to and taken the moral high ground while addressing the UN General Assembly (UNGA). There were moments of extreme Indo-Pak acrimony, but the Indian strategy ensured PM Modi remained above the fray while the diplomats did the countering. Modi also emerged as a climate change champion by promising to front-load India’s green energy commitments, though the over-polluted and filthy cities suggest India has a fair distance to travel beyond declaratory pronouncements.

The Trump-Imran Khan and Trump-Modi meetings helped India gain a better insight into Washington’s expectations in the region: Pakistan will not meddle in cross-border terrorism and help US get out of Afghanistan; India must step up imports of US energy and defence products and keep an eye on human rights violations while tackling the Kashmir issue. Despite the Indian establishment’s exultation at having trumped Pakistan at UN, the unease in the US establishment over the Kashmir lockdown cannot be wished away. A State Department official tersely hoped for ‘rapid action’ from India and hinted at unease on the Capitol Hill, hours after Trump expressed confidence in Modi’s handling of Kashmir.

The massive preparatory work preceding Modi’s departure — lifting of price controls on medicines and cutting the corporate tax rate — overshadowed India’s recent poor economic report card at Houston and the roundtables. Modi inevitably led the branding exercise along with an equally energetic Foreign Minister S Jaishankar. India was successful in laying down the red carpet for investors, but did it achieve its strategic goals at the UN? The Kashmir issue was no closer to resolution nor was the ‘powerful five’ any less unwilling to balance the interests of all states with wider representation and influence in conducting the affairs of the UN. India may not have become a better place in five years, but the PM’s visit to the US was indeed an image-booster.