Udta Modi: Once denied visa, NaMo now flies India closer to the US

WASHINGTON: "What do you mean no visa for Modi? Right now they are ready to give him a Congressional Medal and a citizenship to go with it," was one snarky aside as US lawmakers tripped over each other for autographs of the Prime Minister after his address to the joint session of the US Congress, in scenes reminiscent of Indian MPs fawning over Bill Clinton in the Indian Parliament in 2000. A photo posted on social media of Modi signing autographs joked about him taking orders for thepla, khakra, ganthia and other Gujarati savories. That must have been the most number of Congressmen he has ever addressed; in India, he can get a maximum of 44, joshed someone on Twitter.
It was a trip that launched a thousand quips. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns home on Friday after a frenetic five-country, six-day swing across the world culminating in Mexico City, he could well reflect on the sardonic observation of a Mexican leader to describe his country's unequal relationship with its northern neighbour: "Poor Mexico! So far from God, so close to the United States!" In aligning New Delhi ever closer to Washington, Modi risks provoking the deepest pathology of India's long-serving leftist laity, which is already champing at the bit at a "sell-out" to a country that has long believed, to paraphrase the singer Bob Dylan's putdown, that "God's on our side."
However, it's real-politik, or real geo-politik, not God or manifest destiny, that has propelled Modi's India closer to the US, conversations and briefings with both US and Indian officials reveal. Both sides are also quick to clarify that the increasing alignment of views and objectives does not preclude each country's strategic autonomy that may result in differences from time to time, something Modi himself alluded to in his address US lawmakers. But short of becoming a formal treaty ally of the US (such as Japan, South Korea, the Philippines etc), Narendra Damodardas Modi, the man who was barred from visited the US less than a decade ago, has moved India closer to America than ever before in its history.
Leaving aside the weeds for pundits to wade through, here are the broad and public indications of an enhanced new US-Indian alliance that has emerged over the last few months, including during and immediately preceding the visit
1. Chabahar: Just before Modi embarked on his US visit, India, Iran, and Afghanistan wrapped up the Chabahar port deal — with implicit American nod despite residual US suspicions about Iran. The port actually gives US a second line of entry to Afghanistan should things go out of whack with Pakistan
2. Arlington: Modi began his Washington trip with visit to the Arlington Memorial, where the casualties of the many US wars are buried, despite a history of Indian opposition to what New Delhi's Nehru-Gandhi political lineage regards as US adventurism. More explicitly, in his speech to the US Congress, he spoke of the "final resting place of many brave soldiers of this great land," and "honoring their courage and sacrifice for the ideals of freedom and democracy."
3. MTCR/NSG: The Obama administration swung India's entry into the Missile Technology Control Regime just as Modi arrived in Washington, in a sign that it is willing to use the MTCR key to try and force the issue of India's entry to the Nuclear Suppliers' Group, which China is blocking. China is not a member of MTCR, but US officials told Indian journalists it is their "strong objective" to have India join the NSG in its plenary this month. All this - MTCR, NSG etc - is aimed at eventually securing India a seat at the high table in a reformed UN Security Council, a stated US objective.
4. The mysterious road map: