'Like Chandrayaan, US-India relationship will go to the moon and even beyond'

WASHINGTON: The India-US relationship is at an all-time high and the Modi government is going to take it to a different level, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said, stressing that like the Chandrayaan, bilateral ties will go to the moon and even beyond.

Jaishankar’s remarks came as he addressed several hundred Indian-Americans gathered at the India House from various parts of the US to attend the ‘Celebrating Colours of Friendship’ event organised by the Embassy of India here on Saturday.

“There is one clear message today that our relationship is at an all-time high. But as they say in America, you ain’t seen anything yet. So, we are going to take this relationship to a different level, to a different place,” he said at the largest-ever gathering of Indian- Americans at the India House.

Jaishankar said that the success of the G20 could not have happened without the support of the US.

“As the host, when things go well, the host always gets the credit. It’s reasonable. But, the G20 could not have come together if all the members of the G20 did not work for its success,” he said.

“I think particularly, I must say, because I’m in this country today, the contribution, the support and the understanding that we got from the United States to make a successful G20, I think that is something I would certainly like to recognise in public in Washington DC,” Jaishankar said amidst loud applause from Indian- Americans.

“So, it may have been our success in a literal way, but I think it was the G20 (nations) success. To me, it was also a success of the India-US partnership…please keep giving this partnership the support it needs, the support it deserves and the support it expects. And I can promise you that this relationship, like the Chandrayaan, will go to the moon, maybe even beyond,” he said.

Jaishankar said that the human bond between the two countries makes the bilateral relationship unique.

“Countries do business with each other. Countries do politics with each other. They have military ties, they do exercises, and they have cultural exchanges. But when two countries have that deep human bonding, that’s a completely different ballgame. That is today the defining characteristic of our relationship,” he said.

He said the contribution of the diaspora in building the bilateral relationship is something fantastic.

“There are no words that can capture it. It is on that foundation that today we are looking ahead for…a new hope on the horizon…So, I think when we look at the horizon, we really see fantastic possibilities out there, and it’s the community which is going to deliver on that,” Jaishankar said.

The minister said the India of today is different from what it was earlier.

“I want to share with you that this is truly a different India for which I speak. It is an India, which as you heard from others, is capable of the Chandrayaan-3 mission,” he said.

“It is an India which was able to pull off the most spectacular G20 and prove those who said that we will not be able to get 20 nations, I don’t want to say quarrelling nations but 20 countries with different positions, to come to the table together,” he said.

This is an India, which showed during Covid that it could not only look after its own people but could extend its hand to more than a hundred countries across the world, he said.

Today, the fastest rollout of 5G is happening in India.

“I want to say in many ways, if there is a spring in our step, a confidence in our voice, a sort of squaring of our shoulder, there are very good reasons for it,” he said.

“Because it is built today on 10 years of hard work…There are domains where our capacities have doubled or tripled,” he said.