Birthday boy PM Narendra Modi, clad in his iconic half sleeve saffron coloured kurta and a hand-woven scarf, was offered laddoo by his mother. Modi started his day spending about 25 minutes with his mother Hiraba, who also donated Rs.5,001 towards Kashmir flood relief. Modi met his mother in Gandhinagar on Wednesday and sought her blessings on his 64th birthday. A large number of residents gathered at the house to wish “Happy Birthday Narendra Bhai.” This was Modi’s first visit to Gujarat after being sworn in as a Prime Minister of India.
On another crucial event, Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Ahmedabad on the first leg of his three-day India visit during which trade and investment are expected to top the agenda of talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, besides other bilateral and regional issues. Xi has arrived in Ahmedabad, the commercial capital of Gujarat, at the head of a high-powered delegation. The city was festooned up to receive the Chinese leader. A red carpet welcome and Gujarati culture and cuisine awaited Xi during his six-hour visit to the State. While in Ahmedabad, Xi visited Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram and spent some time with Modi.
China has the obligation and responsibility as the rising super power to help global stability by being a trend setter of preventing and minimising nuclear proliferation. India has been a responsible player in that front and willing to be a partner in spite of its non signatory of NPT. China helped Pakistan become a nuclear power and proliferator. It is time, China should help to set things right and gain Indian trust. Beijing is expected to push its new-generation APC1000 nuclear reactors during talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The proposal for civil nuclear cooperation was initiated by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang during his visit to India in May 2013. Since then, sources say, Chinese officials have spoken about the possibility of supplying reactors to India with visiting delegations. However, there has been little movement, given India’s opposition to China’s offer of two APC1000 reactors to Pakistan to be built near Karachi. They are buying Westinghouse reactors for themselves and selling their cheap reactors to Pakistan. If Japan does not sell their reactors because of their internal issues, it’s ok to buy US Westinghouse (Toshiba) and General Electric (Hitachi) reactors which are Japanese any way. Buying Chinese reactors means we depend on Chinese maintenance and repair which for India would be very dangerous. China’s offer could be the lowest and we need to increase our power generation 5 times, if we have to alleviate poverty, in the next 5 years. Modi must be very wary of China’s double talk and double standard. India’s interest shall be above all. India should avoid becoming supplier of the world like China has become. It has exhausted its resources, polluted its rivers and degraded its environment and in exchange holds ” I owe you” pieces of paper from the US and European Union. China is not a reliable partner as long as it does not return every inch of Indian land and frees the great nation of Tibet.
A few months ago Narendra Modi was not welcomed in the US. However, the US is now pulling out all stops to woo him. President Barack Obama will host a dinner for him on September 29 before bilateral talks at the White House the next day and this will be followed by a lunch hosted by Vice President Joe Biden at the State Department. What a difference an election makes! Long forgotten is Modi’s alleged inaction or complicity in the 2002 Gujarat riots that led the State Department to revoke his visa in 2005. Modi may not have forgotten, but he too is not letting his personal feelings come in the way of repairing India-US ties which touched a low last December over the arrest and strip search of India’s then deputy consul general in New York for alleged visa fraud and underpaying her nanny. If Obama has called India “one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century, one which will be vital to US strategic interests in Asia-Pacific and across the globe,” then India’s ties with Washington are its most important relationship. Let’s see how our PM takes this country on Global platform and brings change for India.
May he live a hundred years….Happy Birthday Modiji.
