PM Modi's US Visit: Plenty of symbolism in Narendra Modi’s Washington itinerary

WASHINGTON DC: There has been no dearth of optics and symbolism in this carefully crafted US visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His performance at the Madison Square Garden, in front of more than 18,000 people in one of Big Apple’s most storied arenas, was the Exhibit A for how to use the Big Stage masterfully.

Now, as the scene moves to Washington, where Modi is scheduled to arrive late afternoon, the focus will largely be on India-US bilateral issues. But plenty of optics and symbolism have been crafted into the prime minister’s itinerary in the US capital as well.

“Going to Washington, DC, itself is optics,” says Walter Anderson, administrative director of the South Asia Studies Program at Johns Hopkins University here said. “Going to the White House twice is even more.”

Anderson was referring to Modi’s two scheduled visits to the White House on back-to-back days, first on Monday evening for dinner with President Barack Obama and then on Tuesday for talks. Perhaps, the part of the itinerary that is strikingly symbolic is his choice of visits to three public monuments in this city.

On Tuesday, his last day in the United States, Modi will visit the memorials that honour three of the greatest liberation leaders of the past two centuries, Americans Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr and fellow Gujarati Mohandas Gandhi.

While the choice of the Statue of Gandhi, in front of the Embassy of India here, was a no brainer, the visits to the other memorials provide an interesting insight into his thinking.

Modi could have visited any of the monuments in and around the National Mall, less than a mile from Blair House where he is staying during the visit. Among them, the Washington Monument, the 555-foot obelisk that honours the America’s first president, and Jefferson Memorial, which honours another Founding Father and president whose name is forever associated with democratic principles. There are also three war memorials in the vicinity: Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, and National World War II Memorial.

Global India Newswire