U.S. Second Lady Usha Vance recently characterized the current era in U.S.-India relations as a "time of great opportunity." She looked back fondly on her recent trip to India with her husband, Vice President J.D. Vance, and their three children, describing the experience as "mindblowing" for the children.
In a rare public sit-down interview during an event organized by the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum on Monday, Mrs. Vance offered warm observations about the close bond her children formed with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom they lovingly regarded as a grandfather figure.
When questioned on the status of the bilateral relationship, she responded, "This is a moment of enormous opportunity. And I believe if my husband were standing here, he'd say so as well."
She admitted that the bilateral relationship between the two countries has been anything but smooth in the past. "Obviously, the US and India, their relationship has waxed and waned from time to time.". There are points where one nation's needs and one nation's aspirations are other than the other. But currently, I believe within the next four years and in the long run, the reality that there is this established Indian-American community here and all the people in India who are familiar with the country and familiar with the people who are here and doing wonderful things, having wonderful opportunities."
Usha Vance also mentioned the welcoming reception they had when they visited. "When we were there recently, I was just amazed at the number of people who came up to me to tell me how much they loved our country, how they visited family, how they visited just for fun, that they were looking forward to a close relationship. In the future, and I think these personal connections actually really have something to do with it."
The Vances' April trip was the first by a U.S. Vice President to India in 13 years, the previous one being Joe Biden in 2013 when the Obama administration was in power. Subsequent Vice Presidents Mike Pence and Kamala Harris, who has an Indian background, had not undertaken the trip.
Referring to the trip as "the trip of a lifetime," Usha explained how much it meant to their children, who had never seen India previously. What would the pandemic and J.D. century be to politics and all of that, and so they'd grown up just knowing so much about this country, the stories, the food, the relationships with grandparents and friends, but they had never actually seen it. So it was just sort of mindblowing from their perspective. And then for me and J.D., I think it just could not have been any more special.
She mentioned some of the highlights of their travels across northern India: "We had the chance to experience some of north India's best sights. We're planning our next trip and hoping to get to the regions of the country my family is originally from as well. And just it was kind of one hit after another, yeah?" The best food, the peacocks that we were able to see wherever we went, seeing the Taj Mahal in the morning and being able to enjoy it as the sun was just kind of rising, and the blue skies and cool skies over in the distance. And naturally, as you said, getting to meet the Prime Minister was quite special."
The Vances had already been introduced to Prime Minister Modi in Paris at an AI summit last February. Usha relayed a sweet story about the children's instant affection for Modi: "They were kind of sleep deprived in Paris, and they saw an Indian gentleman with a white beard and white hair, and they just put him in the grandfather category right away. So they are very fond of him. They just adore him.". And he actually solidified his reputation by presenting our five-year-old with a birthday gift that day. So when we were finally able to go to his house, they just kind of ran up. They were hugging him. He was just so incredibly kind and generous to them."
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