West Starts Awkward Embrace of Triumphant Modi

Other Western nations moved more swiftly to court Modi, with the British and French ambassadors visiting him well before the elections.

A confidential U.S. diplomatic cable written during the 2005 visa row, released by the website WikiLeaks, warned that a BJP with Modi in charge would be “more anti-American and less cooperative with the U.S.,” although it also predicted that Modi would bring electoral disaster.

But the warming of the once-distant U.S.-India relationship largely took place when the BJP was last in power during the 1998-2004 premiership of Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Modi, who has little foreign policy experience, recently stated that international relations should be based on interests rather than individuals — a comment that, U.S. diplomats hope, indicates he will not hold a grudge.

His top campaign promise has been on the economy, and he courted Western investors in Gujarat even while governments shunned him.

Modi’s sweeping majority would allow the government to push through business-friendly changes, although the BJP has criticized the outgoing government’s key reform of opening India to foreign retailers such as Walmart.