Washington: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held his first-ever in-person bilateral meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House. During the interaction in the Oval Office, the two world leaders went off script and joked about the presence of ‘five Bidens in India’. When President Biden cracked jokes about the presence of five Bidens in India, PM Modi replied that he was carrying some genealogy papers along for the US President to look at.
“You have talked about Biden’s surname in Mumbai. You also told this to me personally. Since then I have been trying to look into this. I have come with some documents also if they may come to any use,” PM Modi was heard saying in Hindi, drawing hearty chuckles from President Biden, who quipped: “I’m relieved.”
Earlier in 2013, when President Biden visited Mumbai, he had told an audience that his distant relatives lived in the city. He later reiterated his claim at an event in Washington, saying there are five Bidens living in Mumbai.
Meeting @POTUS @JoeBiden at the White House. https://t.co/VqVbKAarOV
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 24, 2021
Not only this, President Biden in a warm remark pointed out that the chair PM Modi was occupying is “occupied almost every day by an Indian American” – a reference to US Vice President Kamala Harris.
PM Modi was also heard praising Joe Biden’s vision, whereas the latter was heard saying “Glad to host you at the White House. I’ve known you for years,” adding that he’s looking forward to deepening India-US ties. The last meeting between the two leaders was in 2014 when Joe Biden was the Vice President of the US while PM Modi had just taken over the Prime Ministerial post in India.
In his opening remarks at the meeting, PM Modi said seeds of transformation of the India-US relationship have been sown. He further said the trade between the two countries will continue to assume importance. “There are things that you have, there are things we have. They complement each other. The next decade will be important in terms of trade.”
He referred to Mahatma Gandhi’s idea of trusteeship of the planet. Biden made a reference to October 2 in his remarks. Modi said the sentiment of trusteeship will become more important globally and in the bilateral relationship.
PM Modi’s four-day visit to the US kickstarted on Thursday with the Indian Prime Minister’s meetings with 5 top CEOs of American multinational companies, a bilateral meeting with Australian PM Scott Morrison, then a meeting with US Vice President Kamala Harris and a joint statement by the two, and finally a meeting Japan’s PM.
(With inputs from agency)
