Obama and Modi See Mutual Benefit in Breaking More Ice

In September, during his first visit to the White House, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India discussed clean energy, trade and security issues with President Obama.

NEW DELHI — Ever since India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, visited President Obama in the fall, the word in New Delhi has been that the two men — one a former Hindu activist, the other a former law professor — had “chemistry.”

Mr. Obama broke the ice by leaving his White House staff behind to give Mr. Modi a personal 15-minute tour of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Soon after, Mr. Modi decided to invite Mr. Obama to Republic Day celebrations this month, becoming the first Indian leader to choose an American as his guest for the event.

It is hard to say who was more taken aback: the Americans — Mr. Obama’s attendance required him to change the date of the State of the Union address — or the Indians, when Mr. Obama said yes. He is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on Sunday.

The emerging friendship between the two leaders was not foreordained. Mr. Modi came into office with a formidable piece of baggage, having been blacklisted by the United States government for nearly a decade over his handling of religious riots in Gujarat, the state he then led. American diplomats’ efforts to mend fences were late and awkward, and Mr. Modi is known to hold a grudge.

Indeed, the most important message from next week’s meeting could end up being a more subtle one: that the relationship is turning, as slowly as an oil tanker, toward a closer, more predictable long-term alignment.

Richard M. Rossow, an expert on Indian-American relations at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the president’s decision to return to India so soon after meeting Mr. Modi was the best indication that the two men had sized each other up and wanted to move forward.

“Are they buddy-buddy?” he added. “That’s for them to tell you about. But more importantly for the president of the United States, he sees a counterpart that will actually try to deliver on things that are promised in those meetings. And so I think that is probably the best way that they can show friendship.”

Peter Baker contributed reporting from Washington.

The New York Times