The World's oldest democracy, the United States of America has just chosen Democrat Joe Biden as their 46th President in the 2020 US Presidential elections.
As US celebrates his victory, World is trying to figure out the equation they are going to share with the US as Joe Biden in the helm of affairs.
India who shared a cordial relationship with the US under President Donald Trump, is now analysing how good Joe Biden will be for India.
Biden's campaign document however gives a positive sign. The document says, 'As the World's oldest and largest democracies, the United States and India are bound together by our shared democratic values: fair and free elections, equality under the law, and the freedom of expression and religion. These core principles have endured throughout each of our nations' histories and will continue to be the source of our strength in the future.'
To understand how good Biden is for India, we have to go back to the Barack Obama times, when Biden was the Vice-President in the Obama administration.
It was during this tenure that Biden showed his inclination towards India when he advocated a stronger relationship between the two Democratic nations.
Going back to 2006, before becoming the Vice-President of the US, Biden had said, 'My dream is that in 2020, the two closest nations in the world will be India and the United States.' Just to remind you, this is 2020.
Indo-US Nuclear deal
The credit for getting the Indo-US nuclear deal signed also goes to Joe Biden.
President Obama was sceptic on the Indo-US nuclear deal in 2008, but it was Joe Biden who worked with Democrats and Republicans, to facilitate the nuclear deal in the US Congress.
As the Vice-President of the United State, he advocated strengthening the Indo-US partnership, especially in strategic areas.
UNSC Permanent membership
It was during his tenure as Vice-President that the US officially declared its support for India's permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council, which India has been demanding since long.
Stand on Defence Partnership
The Obama-Biden Administration named India a 'Major Defence Partner' - a status approved by the US Congress.
This made it easier to share advanced and critical technology to India to strengthen defence ties.
It was for the first time that any country was given this status outside of the US's traditional alliance system.
As the Vice-President during the Barack Obama administration, Joe Biden played a critical role in the US-South Asia strategy.
After the 2015 Modi-Obama meet, a separate document called the 'US-India Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region' was released.
It was during this time that the nomenclature changed from 'Asia-Pacific' to 'Indo-Pacific', keeping the motive unchanged.
In august 2016, the two countries signed the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement for deeper military cooperation.
LEMOA allows the militaries of the US and India to replenish from each other’s bases, and access supplies, spare parts and services from each other’s land facilities, air bases, and ports, which can then be reimbursed.
This has been particularly useful in Indo-US naval co-operation.
Stand on terrorism
In its fight against terrorism, India and the US have worked closely with each other.
During Obama administration both countries strengthened ties to fight terrorism in their countries and across the region.
Biden's campaign document also says, 'Biden believes there can be no tolerance for terrorism in South Asia - cross-border or otherwise.'
Stand on Indo-China standoff
On China, it will be a bit too early to predict what will be Joe Biden's stand.
Over the last six months, Trump administration has been extremely vocal in India’s support on border-stand-off with China and India will expect the same from Biden.
Secretary of State Michael Pompeo had been attacking China quite openly, but will Biden administration do the same is to be seen.
Stand on H1B visas
But the one thing that is the most important for Indians is what will be Biden's stand on immigration and visas for Indians, specially H1B visas.
Democrats are seen to be more liberal on immigration policy. As of now he has promised to support family-based immigration, increase the number of visas offered for permanent, work-based immigration, reform the temporary visa system for high-skill, specialty jobs, eliminate the limits on employment-based green cards.
He has also promised to restore the naturalisation process for green card holders.
However after Trump administration has tightened the rules, it won't be easy for Biden to reverse them.
Stand on Kashmir
Indian government would be specially interested in knowing what would be Biden's stand on the Kashmir issue.
Following the revoking of Article 370 and passage of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Trump administration has refrained from making any comments.
Stand on CAA/NRC
Biden's campaign policy paper clearly stated that it was disappointed by Indian government's implementation of the NRC in Assam and the passage of the Citizenship Amendmen Act.
