WASHINGTON (The Thursday Times) — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will land in India this week with a schedule that leaves out New Delhi and includes no announced meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Wire says it is the first time a US secretary of state has visited India with no planned meetings in the capital.
The State Department’s itinerary for October 17 to 22 covers Mumbai and Jamnagar in India, followed by Samarkand in Uzbekistan. New Delhi is not on it. Jamnagar is home to major business interests of the Ambani family, and Rubio is due to meet “senior government officials” there. The department’s announcement does not mention Modi.
Five months ago, the picture was different. Rubio’s first visit to India as secretary of state, in May, took him from Kolkata to New Delhi, where he met Modi and delivered an invitation from President Donald Trump to visit the White House.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs has said little. Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on October 14 that “several issues of a bilateral nature will be discussed.”
The trip comes at a tense moment in US-India relations. Washington has imposed tariffs of up to 50 per cent on Indian goods, and Indian media report that a trade deal is delayed and that immigration policy remains a concern. It also comes as India’s capital is gripped by protests over alleged voter-roll fraud, which have drawn criticism from the United Nations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
No official has explained why New Delhi was left off the schedule. It is not known whether a meeting with Modi will be added or whether Rubio will see other senior Indian officials in the capital.
