ADVERTISEMENTs
.png)
‘We have overcome hesitations of history’: Richard Verma on US-India ties
The Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources quoted PM Modi at the US-India Chamber of Commerce DFW’s 25th Annual Awards Gala.
Richard Verma is the former US Ambassador to India. / X/@DepSecStateMR
The United States and India have overcome the hesitations of history, said Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources Richard Verma at the US-India Chamber of Commerce DFW’s 25th Annual Awards Gala held on Dec.10. Verma was quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi who had made the remarks at a joint session of Congress.
“Overcome the hesitations of history….what great verbiage, and how appropriately said,” Verma addressed the audience at the gala. “You see, the United States and India have not had a very long relationship: just over 75 years, and unfortunately, for much of that history, we were not very close. In fact, many would say we were ‘estranged’.”
Verma recalled the relations the two countries shared during the times of Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy.
“We started out so strong with Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy, who saw the enormous promise of India and U.S.-India ties. Kennedy said when he was a US Senator that ‘the hinge of fate in Asia rests with India’. And Eisenhower, when he came to India to open the first US Embassy there in 1959, actually declared that if young Indian and American children grow up to be the best of friends, then the world will be a safer and better place,” Verma recalled.
But by 1965, Verma said, things changed dramatically.
“We were locked into our Cold War differences: cordial, but distant, and that really didn’t change until the late 90s,” he continued. “It was President Clinton’s visit in the year 2000, when he finally broke out of our long period of estrangement and said it was time for a new and ambitious relationship, much like Eisenhower and Kennedy had wanted: a relationship based and build on shared values.”
In the last 24 years, the two nations have had good, steady, upward progress, Verma added.
4 quotes on #USIndia ties:
— Richard R. Verma (@DepSecStateMR) December 12, 2024
“We are all from the same place.”
“We have overcome the hesitations of history.”
“Foreign policy begins at home.”
“The real battle for social justice takes place in those small spaces.”
Dive into my remarks @USICOCDFW here: https://t.co/IQ3A3tuy9B
Verma also congratulated the US-India Chamber of Commerce for completing 25 years. He shared a heartwarming story in his address.
“We are all from the same place,” he said. “That was what my dad used to say to us all the time. My dad tells a great immigrant story, showing up in New York City with $14 and a bus ticket. He started over with next to nothing. And yes, his son would go on to be the US Ambassador to India and now, the Deputy Secretary of State.”
“Only in America. That is the promise of the American dream.”
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
E Paper
ADVERTISEMENT
.jpg)
Video
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
Comments
Start the conversation
Become a member of New India Abroad to start commenting.
Sign Up Now
Already have an account? Login