Unlikely chemistry benefits both Obama and Modi

Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited U.S. President Barack Obama in September 2014, the word in New Delhi has been that the two men had chemistry.

Mr. Obama broke the ice by leaving his White House staff behind to give Mr. Modi a personal 15-minute tour of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Soon after, Mr. Modi decided to invite Mr. Obama to Republic Day celebrations this month, becoming the first Indian leader to choose an American as his guest for the spectacular annual parade.

It is hard to say who was more taken aback: the Americans Mr. Obamas attendance required him to juggle the timing of the State of the Union address or the Indians, when Mr. Obama said yes. He is scheduled to arrive in New Delhi on Sunday.

The emerging goodwill between the two leaders was not preordained. Mr. Modi came into office with a formidable piece of baggage, having been blacklisted by the U.S. government for nearly a decade over his handling of religious riots in Gujarat. U.S. diplomats efforts to mend fences were late and awkward.

Beneath the surface of the two leaders personal relationship are the shifting tectonic plates of geopolitics. With the expansion of Chinese power into the Indian Ocean, U.S. and Indian interests in the region are gradually converging. It is difficult to say which government was more quietly gratified this month when Sri Lankas Beijing-aligned President lost his reelection bid, making it less likely that the island off Indias coast would eventually provide a foothold for Chinese military expansion.

Modi more pro-American

And aides to Mr. Modi say the years-long discussion of Mr. Modis human rights record concealed an important fact: He is, compared with nearly all of the Indian leaders who preceded him, quite pro-American.

He was always very canny in recognising that the United States was important for his own ambitions, and for Indian ambitions, said Ashley Tellis, a senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and author of a new report on the two countries relationship. What was missing was that connective tissue which takes what he knew in his head and translates it into action.

The meeting between the two leaders in Washington, he said, provided that emotional turning point.

This week has brought a marathon of last-minute negotiations, mainly over issues that the United States and India have been grappling with for years.

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Unlikely chemistry benefits both Obama and Modi