‘Outcome of election won’t affect ties’: MEA on US presidential election

New Delhi: India on Friday said the relationship with the US would not be affected by the outcome of the US presidential election as it rests on strong foundations and enjoys the backing of both the Republican and Democratic parties.

“Like you, we are awaiting the election results. What I can tell you is that India-US relations rest on strong foundations and our relations encompass cooperation in every possible sphere, extending from strategic to defence to investment to trade to people-to-people ties,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Anurag Srivastava told a weekly news briefing.

The India-US comprehensive global strategic partnership has “very strong bipartisan support in the US and successive presidents and administrations have raised the level of this relationship even higher,” Srivastava said shortly before it emerged that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden had taken a lead by bagging more votes in the key state of Pennsylvania.

The spokesperson was responding to a set of questions on the close personal relationship between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate in the election, and the slogan of “Aab ki baar Trump sarkar” that was raised at the “Howdy Modi” rally at Houston in the US in September 2019.

The questions also referred to whether Biden’s victory would impact the India-US relationship and whether the Indian government would have to put in an extra effort to forge ties with a Democratic administration.

The spokesperson didn’t respond to questions on Trump’s claims of irregularities in the presidential election.

India and the US held their third 2+2 ministerial dialogue last month when they signed the Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement (BECA) to share classified satellite imagery and aeronautical data. Following the meeting, secretary of state Mike Pompeo had said the US will stand “with the people of India as they confront threats to their sovereignty and to their liberty”.

The US has also sought to nudge India to take on a greater role within the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) amid growing tensions between Washington and Beijing. During the second ministerial meeting of the QUAD last month, India, Australia, Japan and the US committed themselves to working for a free and open Indo-Pacific region. (HT)