U.S. Defends Meeting Modi; Terms It An Effort To Engage With Indian Leaders

“We are often engaged in concentrated outreach to senior political and business leaders. We began doing that months ago, if not years ago – in different scales, of course – to highlight and continue our U.S. -India relationship.

There has been no changes in our policy per se. This is an effort in that engagement,” Psaki said. “I can certainly confirm the appointments or the meeting upcoming,” she added. Powell is expected to travel to Gandhinagar to meet Modi later this week, the first by the top U.S.  diplomat after the Gujarat riots. In the last few years several European allies have met Modi.

“We do broad outreach to a range of officials in India and many countries around the world with different backgrounds. And it’s simply just an example of that,” she said. “We meet with officials from a range of backgrounds in many, many countries, including India, and it’s simply an example of that,” she argued.

Reiterating that the U.S. does not take positions in elections of any country, Psaki argued that Powell meeting Modi is not an example of the U.S. taking a position. “We don’t take positions. So no, it wouldn’t be a reflection of that.

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