Vance Becomes First U.S. Vice President to Visit India in 12 Years

US Vice President J.D. Vance and his wife Usha Vance will visit India later this month, a US media report stated. He is the second senior member of President Donald Trump's cabinet to be visiting New Delhi this month after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

The Vice President will be joined by Usha Vance, whose immigrant parents came to the US from India. She grew up and was born in the US, where she met Vance while they were both earning law degrees at Yale University.

The visit is Vice President Vance's second overseas visit, preceded by his recent activities in Germany and France, where he spoke at the Munich Security Conference.

Significantly, his visit would be the first by an incumbent US vice president to India in more than 12 years. The previous vice-presidential visit was in 2013 by then Vice President Joe Biden. Although former Vice President Mike Pence had shown keenness to travel to India in Trump's first term, the visit did not happen. Kamala Harris, the Indian-origin vice president under Joe Biden's administration, too, neither came to India nor publicly showed her willingness to visit India.

Vance's trip is especially notable since he is one of the most prominent figures in the Trump administration. He has emerged as one of the president's strongest supporters, particularly in international policy issues that receive significant attention. His recent exchange of words with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which set the stage for Trump's position on the Russia-Ukraine war, commanded international attention.

During the Munich conference, Vance also created a stir by publicly criticizing European governments, such as the UK and Germany, for supposedly stifling free speech.

Details of his interactions in India have not yet been made public. However, Gabbard's itinerary features a speech at the Raisina Dialogue, an annual meeting of international security and foreign policy specialists.