“My parents emigrated from India to the United States in 1978, so it’s really, really special for me to see Modi come to Congress,” said Antani.
He highlighted two sections of Modi’s speech as especially important – “the worry of terrorism effecting both the U.S. and India” and “the shared values that the U.S. and India have, India as the world’s largest democracy and the United States as the world’s oldest democracy.”
Modi’s 46-minute speech followed years of being shunned in the U.S. because of religious violence in his home state. It came a day after a White House meeting with President Barack Obama and was followed by a lunch with congressional leaders and a reception hosted by the House and Senate Foreign Affairs committees.
“A strong India-U.S. partnership can anchor peace, prosperity and stability from Asia to Africa and from the Indian Ocean to the Pacific,” Modi said.
Antani watched the address from the House gallery together with a large group of Indian Americans who often interrupted Prime Minister Modi’s speech with applause.
“Indian American culture is very, very vibrant and it really shows the convergence of the two great democracies,” said Antani. Still, Antani said that the Indian American community should do more to foster relations between the U.S. and India.
“We really need to do a better job in Ohio of sharing that relationship and growing that relationship,” he said.
In 2014, Antani criticized President Barack Obama’s relations with India in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, but on Wednesday, Prime Minister Modi spoke very positively of that relationship. Asked about this, the Republican Antani was quick to point out that it was “the Republican speaker of the House taking leadership (in inviting Modi before Congress) and not the Democratic president.”
Modi did not read a passage from his prepared remarks that said he and Obama “have agreed” that making India a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council “has to be an intrinsic part of this century’s new reality.” It was not immediately clear why Modi dropped the reference. Obama first voiced support for Indian membership in 2010 and reaffirmed it Tuesday, but it appears no closer to happening because of resistance from other council permanent members.
Modi’s address was part of a three-day visit to the United States.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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