Joe Biden is rolling out the red carpet and more for India's prime minister. The halls are decked for Narendra Modi's first White House state banquet. It's just one illustration of how much clout a diaspora of four-and-a-half million carries in the United States and of how strategic India has become in superpower showdowns.
The US announcement of plans to transfer warplane engine technology to Delhi offers quite the contrast from the days India turned to Russia for weapons and the US armed Pakistan.
But i's not just the US. France – at the heart of both mega military and civilian plane deals – will make Modi its guest of honour at its annual Bastille Day military parade on July 14. How high are the stakes in the superpower showdown between the West, Russia and China, which shares a long border with India?
The high praise for Modi has the Macrons and Bidens of this world glossing over evidence of democratic backsliding in the world's largest democracy. Ahead of next year's elections in India, how much should the West look the other way?
Produced by Alessandro Xenos and Rebecca Gnignati
