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US lawmakers keen to have PM Modi address joint sitting of US Congress in June

Speed News Desk | Updated on: 10 February 2017, 1:50 IST

On 19 April, members of the United States House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee put forth a letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan, indicating an interest in inviting Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address a joint meeting of the Congress during his scheduled visit to Washington in June.

In order to counterbalance China's rising power, maintaining a cordial relationship with India is crucial for the United States, and one that consistently garners bipartisan support.

Ed Royce, the Republican committee chairman and Eliot Engel, a ranking Democrat, forwarded a letter to Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, expressing their interest in inviting PM Modi to address a joint sitting of the Houses on his visit to Washington on 7 and 8 June.

"Given the depth of our relationship with India across a range of areas - defense, humanitarian and disaster relief, space cooperation, conservation and innovation - we believe this is an ideal opportunity for the Congress to hear directly from the prime minister," they wrote.

The letter to the Speaker also bore the signatures of Republican Representative George Holding and Democrat Ami Bera, the co-chairmen of the Congress Caucus on India and Indian Americans.

Invitations to address the Senate and House are considered a great honor. With Pope Francis and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe being the only other invitees to the Senate in the past year, this would be a radical turn-around for PM Modi, who was once barred from stepping foot in the United States, surrounding his alleged involvement in the 2002 Godhra riots.

Hailed by Obama as "one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century", PM Modi addressing a joint meeting of the US Congress is expected to be an important milestone in cementing the relationship shared by India and US.

There has been no official announcement on whether Speaker Paul Ryan will actually extend the invitation, or from the Prime Minister's office in New Delhi yet.

First published: 20 April 2016, 10:34 IST