Obama honours India with first state dinner

There is unseemly jostling on Capitol Hill among Washington’s power set hoping to swing a prized invite to the first state dinner of President Obama’s administration.
Prime minister Manmohan Singh is travelling to Washington for a state visit on Nov 24, just before Thanksgiving and the Obamas are hosting a formal evening state dinner for him at the White House.

State dinner planners are tossing up whether to serve Obama’s favourite dish of shrimp and scallops in hot garlic butter or stick to more non-fussy meats to suit 77-year-old Singh’s tastes. The responsibility for the planning falls on first lady Michelle Obama and her staff. 

The US media says that as the first, glamourous evening state dinner, ten months into Obama’s presidency it’s “a plum presidential nod of recognition” for the world’s largest democracy and most stable US ally in South Asia. 

“With the Bush administration, India enjoyed a relationship it had not had prior. It had a sort of ‘special ally’ status as the US wanted a reliable counterweight to China. By honouring Singh, Obama is sending out a message that he values India too,” Mira Kamdar, senior fellow at the World Policy Institute and author of Planet India, told DNA. 

The bond between New Delhi and Washington was strengthened during the Bush presidency with a landmark nuclear deal which paves the way for India to grow its civilian nuclear power industry. US companies are naturally eyeing the $100 billion pie. 
Analysts say that Singh’s state visit comes in the nick of time as Obama pours money into Pakistan and tries to cope with the American war in Afghanistan.

 According to diplomats, Washington is orchestrating the establishment of a “fair bargain” between India and Pakistan over their respective interests in Afghanistan. Indian external affairs minister SM Krishna recently dismissed suggestions that India’s growing involvement in Afghanistan is intended to encircle Pakistan.

The Obama administration will use the visit to assure India that the billions of dollars annually the US is giving to Pakistan in non-military and military aid, will not be diverted to bolster defences against India Your browser may not support display of this image. and will only go to provide support in the fight against terror. 

Singh’s November visit will be high on optics with an elaborate red-carpet arrival on the White House South Lawn, one-on-one time with the president and evening state dinner.