As fellow democracy, India celebrates people's mandate in US: MEA

With the result of the closely fought presidential election in the US declared, India on Thursday said as a fellow democracy it celebrates the expression of people's mandate in America and wants to further strengthen the partnership.

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said this in response to a question at a media briefing here a day after Donald Trump registered a remarkable political comeback to win a second term at the White House.

"India-US partnership is a very special and a multi-faceted partnership," Jaiswal said.

Trump, 78, won the race to the White House to become the 47th President of the US, trouncing his Democratic rival Kamala Harris. The Republican leader has also served as the 45th President of the US after his first victory in the election in 2016.

 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday had a telephonic conversation with Trump and warmly congratulated him on his "re-election as the president of the United States of America as well as Republican Party's success in the Congressional elections".

The two leaders "reaffirmed their commitment" to working together to further strengthen bilateral ties across a range of sectors, including, technology, defence, energy, and space, the MEA said earlier in the day.

"Our Prime Minister spoke to President Trump yesterday and before that he also shared a post on X congratulating him on his historic election victory," Jaiswal said.

"As a fellow democracy, India celebrates this expression of people's mandate in the US. The prime minister conveyed to the president-elect that we look forward to working very closely as he has done with him earlier as well, ..and (work) closely to further strengthen India-US comprehensive global and strategic partnership," he said.

The MEA spokesperson said that both India and the US will work for the betterment of people and promote global peace, stability and prosperity. "So, we want to further strengthen our partnership and we look forward to it," he added.

In its statement earlier in the day, the MEA also said the prime minister highlighted that the US leader's "spectacular and resounding victory" in the election reflected the "deep trust" of the American people in his leadership and vision.

The MEA statement added, "Reflecting on the positive momentum of the India-US partnership during President Trump's first term, PM recalled their memorable interactions, including the 'Howdy Modi' event in Houston in September 2019 and the 'Namaste Trump' event in Ahmedabad during President Trump's visit to India in February 2020."  During the briefing, Jaiswal was also asked the possible stance that the US might take on various global issues, including the Bangladesh situation. "These are the questions which the US government will answer for you," he said.

He was also asked if the US election outcome will have any impact on the India-Canada ties.

Jaiswal only said India-Canada ties have "own context and limits" and for that matter a relationship with any country has a "standalone policy and context" to it, and one knows the current state of the India-Canada ties.

He was also asked about the recent deportations of Indian nationals from the US, and how does India look at the immigration issue in the light of the US election.

"Our policy is that illegal immigration should not be promoted. People should migrate legally. India is today seen as skill capital, and the youth, engineers and other professionals are going to various corners of the world. In such times, we want more avenues to open for them, and such movement of people also strengthens our ties, in sectors such as business and technology," the MEA spokesperson said.

Jaiswal said that "our talks are going on with them" and those who are staying in the US without proper documents or staying illegally or irregularly, they should return.

"In fact, we have a continuous dialogue on this matter with the US, and we want to see how best we can promote legal migration from our country," he added.

The MEA spokesperson during the end of his briefing also said that there are "some important visits coming up next week", however, he did not share further details on it.