Washington
US Vice President Kamala Harris meeting Prime MinisterNarendra Modi in the White House on Thursday afternoon is a coming of agemoment for the Indian diaspora, a prominent US newspaper in her home state hassaid on the eve of the historic meeting between the two leaders.
Harris, 56, is the first-ever Indian American to be elected as the vicepresident of the United States. Harris is scheduled to meet Modi on Thursday,making history as the highest-ranking Indian-American to welcome the leader ofa country that is becoming one of America's most important allies, The LosAngeles Times newspaper said.
This would be her first meeting with Modi, 71, whose government has not onlychampioned the cause of the diaspora but also never been shy of speaking abouttheir interest globally. The prime minister himself actively engages with thediaspora in all his overseas trips.
It (Modi-Harris meeting) does represent a coming of age' moment for thediaspora, which is now more than 4 million strong, Milan Vaishnav, director ofthe South Asia Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,told the California-based newspaper.
The meeting between the leaders comes as the Biden administration moves closerto India and other Asian and Pacific nations, continuing the Trumpadministration's focus on responding to China's growing power by buildingAmerica's economic and military ties in the region, the daily reported.
Harris spoke to Modi over the phone on June 3. This would be their first-everin-person meeting, for which an hour has been scheduled, sources said. Accordingto a White House official, Harris during the meeting would reinforce thestrategic partnership between the United States and India.
This meeting will build upon their June 3 telephone conversation addressing theCOVID response. They plan to discuss democracy, human rights, climate, andglobal health issues, the official had earlier said.
Karthick Ramakrishnan, a public policy professor at UC Riverside who has beentracking Indian American public opinion since 2008, told The Los Angeles Timesthat he believes the meeting will be watched closely by Indian-Americans whofollow foreign policy.
At the same time, he noted that the meeting will not get the same level ofattention in the US or India that was generated by Harris' selection as Biden'srunning mate or her swearing-in; both produced a swell of pride by Indians andIndian-Americans on Twitter and Facebook. Harris was born to two immigrantparents -- a Black father and an Indian mother. Her father, Donald Harris, wasfrom Jamaica, and her mother Shyamala Gopalan was a cancer researcher and civilrights activist from Chennai.
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