The official state visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the U.S. signified India’s arrival as a major geopolitical power, says Northeastern professor Max Abrahms, who had an opportunity to personally meet with Modi last week. “India is currently the fifth largest economy and it’s only moving up in the ranks,” says Abrahms, associate professor of political science at Northeastern University. “This trip was an enormous deal for India, because it really signified its arrival as a major geopolitical power in a way that we’ve never seen before.”
Modi arrived in Washington, D.C., last Wednesday for a four-day state visit. His schedule was packed with meetings with President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and other state officials, a state dinner at the White House in his honor, an address to the U.S. Congress and meetings with chief executive officers of major American companies among other commitments. He also met with a small group of think tankers to discuss a range of developmental and geo-political issues, according to Modi’s official website. Abrahms was one of the participants of that meeting.