Kamala taking a leaf out of Obama’s playbook? How Harris’ presidency might differ from Biden’s

NEW DELHI: “There are millions in America, who have roots in India. Some of them are sitting proudly in this US Congress. There is one behind me, who has made history,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi he said in his second widely acclaimed address to the US Congress, referring to Kamala Harristhe first woman of Black and Indian descent to be elected vice president—who, perhaps in less than 100 days as Modi calls it, can make history again and maybe for a few days stand next to the prime minister. the most populous country is the 47th president of the United States.
The world’s oldest and largest democracy has come a long way from the first to the present, which some ambassador Eric Garcetti called the “consequential” relationship of the century.
And the partnership is expected to remain more or less the same with bipartisan support, regardless of who takes the reins in the Oval office come January.
However, for New Delhi, although bilateral and multilateral relations will continue to rise, the real diplomatic challenge will come from the messaging, in particular. Washington‘S proclivity to be a pedantic headmaster and give embarrassing lectures on ‘violations of human rights’ and ‘treatment of minorities’.
‘Unconditionality’ continues?The Veep is one foreign policy positions on some issues remain ambiguous for many interpretations, but what is clear is that the optics may be different from Trump or even the current government led by Biden, which is the same. willing to go that extra mile for the Indian court up and comfortable until the prime minister is hugely popular, come what may.
Read: India has ability to urge Putin to end war in Ukraine, US says
The surprising “unconditional” display was when western leaders, including Biden chose to play softball over PM Modi’s bear hug to President Putin that coincided with the NATO summit and the Russian attack that left many children dead in Ukraine. While he may privately resent the hugs and bad optics, his voice is that Modi is a global player, making peace by leveraging his cordial relationship with not only Putin but also leaders in other western capitals.

Another example is when Biden chose to celebrate the Airbus A-350 deal in India by phone with Prime Minister Modi last year while blasting the BBC tax raid that happened in the capital on the same day. The reaction was not too harsh from Trump, who remained mum during his stay in Delhi while the national capital witnessed unrest, according to one well-placed American embassy source.
However, seeing how Kamala Harris started to become a candidate, “maybe, the current VP wants to get many aspects from Obama and wants to be seen as the president of the free world, who does not measure words. to raise the issue of the freedom of minorities and human rights,” said the source .
Barack Obama in and out of office has not shid away from putting his views on record publicly. The former president in 2023, when Prime Minister Modi made a historic visit to the United States, adopted the same rhetoric from the previous public statement he made in Delhi as president, where he said controversially, “India will withdraw if the rights are there. ethnic minorities are not protected,” insinuating Biden to bring up the issue of human rights in general with Modi.

‘Disappointed, if not happy’

With Kamala’s tone & tenor changing and her appearance different from Biden’s, the message could find some uncomfortable spots in New Delhi, if America elects Harris to the oval office, the source added.
The current Democratic candidate Kamala Harris for four years as vice president, if anyone “shows discomfort, if not displeasure with certain policies of Prime Minister Modi”, said professor of international affairs at the University of Goa, Dattesh Prabhu Parulekar.
The recent “will not be silent” response to Netanyahu made some think to recall the VP’s swipe at Prime Minister Modi’s “human rights record” and “treatment of minorities”.
Read: ‘I will not be silent’, Kamala Harris told Netanyahu
Before hosting Prime Minister Modi for a state lunch during his visit in September 2021, the vice president in his first meeting with Modi played good cop and bad cop. He gently pushed Modi by saying that while democracy around the world is under threat, “it is important that we defend the principles and institutions of democracy in our country.”
“I know from personal experience and from my family the commitment of the Indian people to democracy,” he said, “and the work that needs to be done, so that we can imagine, then we can achieve our vision. democratic principles and institutions.”
After all, the senator-turned-president like India also revoked Article 370, being vocal about the situation that arose in Kashmir after its repeal. On the campaign trail, he weighed in on the response to the human rights situation in Kashmir and said, “We need to remind Kashmiris that they are not alone in the world. There is a need to intervene if the situation demands it.

He also stood up for Indian-origin Congress member Pramila Jayapal when external affairs minister S Jaishankar abruptly canceled a meeting in the US over his participation.
“It is wrong for foreign governments to tell Congress what members are allowed to do in meetings on Capitol Hill,” Harris said in a tweet. While many other Congress members also blamed the situation in Kashmir, his comments raised alarm in Delhi as he hails from this state.

Jayapal once moved a resolution on the Kashmir issue in the House of Representatives, and later during Modi’s second state visit in 2023, led a campaign to pressure Biden to pull the strings on Modi over allegations of human rights abuses.
And the two-time district attorney, scrambling to make the election contest a war between “prosecutor vs convicted felon Trump”, may not release his “activist DNA” with India as well, similar to what has happened recently to Netanyahu, Dattesh said.
The vice president, despite his ties to India, has remained aloof, leaving the GOP and presidential candidate Donald Trump with fodder to run the campaign — no one knows about demagoguery and assuming identity. And also the Maga republic with politicians of Indian origin like Vivek Ramasamy going to claim that Indian Americans are “offended” by the former who stay away from the Indian identity.
Unlike Rishi Sunak in England, who does not hesitate to attract the ever-growing interest the Indian diaspora and to portray himself as a “proud Hindu” running for UK PM, Kamala Harris on the other hand competing to be the 47th president of the ‘free world’ has walked a thin line, choosing to dot the I’s and cross the T’s.
The Modi government that rules where the three D’s (Democracy, demography, diaspora) have been presented as the bedrock of foreign policy, will find Kamala Harris safe when interacting with the diaspora of Indian Americans and Hindu Americans less interesting. The fact that the VP is touring India, but has never been to India in four years may add to the sentiment.
The Modi government over the years has also been adamant and there are no words to call a spade a spade. If anything, one of Modi’s immediate reactions to Trump’s assassination attempt was that the former president was a “dear friend”, but reading between the lines, it was India for a change talking Democracy to Washington, a BJP worker said.
“Deeply alarmed by the attack on my friend, former President Donald Trump. Violence has no place in a democracy,” Modi wrote on X.

Kamala, despite being late in the race, now leads the most polls against Trump who is lagging behind a failed assassination attempt that seems to be fading fast into public memory. New Delhi will watch developments in Washington and prepare to face Trump who is ‘America first, personal equality next’ or Kamala Harris with half-Indian identity, wants to ‘lead the world’s oldest democracy by example’.