This story is from October 01, 2023

2. What Chandrayaan and India-US ties have in common

| Oct 1, 2023, 22:44 IST

An analogy

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The India-US relationship is at an all-time high and the two nations have moved to a position where they see each other as very desirable, optimal and comfortable partners, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said.
Jaishankar stressed that like the Chandrayaan — India’s space mission for the earth’s only natural satellite — bilateral ties will go to the moon and maybe even beyond.

Jaishankar says…

“There is one clear message today that our relationship is at an all-time high. But as they say in America, you ain't seen anything yet. So, we are going to take this relationship to a different level, to a different place,” he said at the largest-ever gathering of Indian-Americans at the India House in Washington.
“And I can promise you that this relationship, like the Chandrayaan, will go to the moon, maybe even beyond.”

The timing

Jaishankar’s comments have come against the backdrop of the chatter around Canada’s allegation that India was involved in the killing of a Khalistani extremist in that country — a charge dismissed by India as “absurd” and “motivated”.
Some comments from top US officials urged India to “cooperate” with Canada to bring out the whole truth in the matter.
Reports also suggested that Canada’s PM Justin Trudeau went public with this allegation only after the US shared an intelligence with its Five Eyes co-member on the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June.

Stress on continuity

Jaishankar also said the people remember Rajiv Gandhi's visit to the US in 1985, Manmohan Singh's visit in 2005 and PM Narendra Modi's several visits — a remark that is expected to soothe the nerves in the Congress party, which receives criticism from the BJP on all fronts.
"But I have to say that this one [PM Modi's recent state visit] was different, it was different in optics, and if you ask me what has changed, I would say India and the US earlier used to deal with each other and now they work with each other," he said.

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