From cold shoulder to warm hugs

Indian PM Narendra Modi recieves US President Barack Obama and US First Lady Michelle Obama at airport. Photo: AFP, Reuters

At first glance, they might appear unlikely friends or allies. One is a right-wing nationalist and long-time international pariah, while the other is an unabashed liberal and Nobel peace laureate.

But as Barack Obama and Narendra Modi clasped each other in a bear hug yesterday, the US and Indian leaders highlighted a bond that observers say stems in part from their humble backgrounds and mutual outsider status.

"They defied the circumstances of their origins, rising to the top of the totem pole," Pramit Pal Chaudhuri wrote in the Hindustan Times.

"They are both rebels with a cause."

The US was the last Western power to end Modi's isolation which stemmed from an eruption of communal violence in Gujarat.

With relations already soured in late 2013 by the arrest and strip-search of an Indian diplomat in New York, Time magazine predicted last year "the atmosphere could soon become even more tense" with Modi in power.

But not only has Modi refrained from voicing bitterness, his first meeting with Obama at the White House in September went far better than many had hoped.

"I think they struck up a very good chemistry," the White House's Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters, recalling how the pair had had a long discussion over dinner.

Weeks after that ice-breaker, the two governments resolved a row over food subsidies that had been blocking a global trade agreement, underlining the sense that the pair could do business together.

US officials say Obama has savoured dealing with a leader who, thanks to his thumping election majority, can get things done.

While Obama may come from the left of US politics and Modi from the right of India's political spectrum, Suresh said they shared basic common goals.

"Modi knows that for the vast socio-economic changes including his ambitious Make in India campaign, he needs American investments and technology, in sectors like defence, energy, nuclear and national security," Suresh said.

"President Obama obviously wants to revive (the) American economy, create jobs and for him India is a great market that offers him an opportunity to fulfil the aspirations of his own people.

"And America certainly needs an emerging India as a key partner in the Asia-Pacific, particularly in the light of China's emergence."