President Obama is traveling about 7,500 miles to be the guest at a parade here. But it’s not just any procession.
Obama will attend India’s annual Republic Day parade, a stunning, hours-long spectacle that showcases India’s culture, military, states and federal programs.
The parade, held Jan. 26, celebrates the adoption of the Indian Constitution – the day that India became a republic. (It’s not the same as Indian Independence Day, which is in August.)
Each year, the Indian government invites a different foreign head of state to be its special guest. Last year it was Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“It’s India’s most important formal invitation to offer,” said Alyssa Ayres, a senior fellow for India, Pakistan and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations.
The unprecedented invitation to Obama, which officials said came as a surprise, would have been unheard of a few years ago as the relationship between the two countries stagnated. But Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who took office in May, sees the relationship with the United States as one that is good for both India and his ambitions, despite personal and political tensions. Modi was denied a visa by the U.S. government in 2005 due to alleged violations of religious freedom. Modi offered Obama the invitation after the men met in Washington in September.
“I think President Obama was personally honored to receive that invitation,” White House Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes said. “ I think he sees this as a potentially transitional if not transformational moment for the relationship, because we have a very strong and clear indication from India’s leadership that they want to elevate” our cooperation and relationship.
Obama will be both the first U.S. president to attend the parade and the first to visit India twice while in office. The invitation from Modi also underscores how the men both use social media — Modi put the news on Twitter and the White House publicly accepted via the network.
This Republic Day, we hope to have a friend over…invited President Obama to be the 1st US President to grace the occasion as Chief Guest.
Wired: washingtonpost.com
