Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave leftist American President Joe Biden a handcrafted box featuring various gifts, including an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh and a silver oil lamp, a gift intended to honor the president having lived through “one thousand full moons.”
Modi and Biden, alongside first lady Jill Biden, exchanged gifts at a private dinner in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, prior to bilateral meetings on Thursday leading into a formal White House State Dinner. Modi is on a visit to the United States that began Tuesday with meetings with business leaders and celebrities, followed by a celebration of yoga at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Wednesday morning.
The stakes are high for Modi’s visit to America, which both countries have presented as an attempt to fortify the bilateral relationship and hone their foreign policies to address joint challenges, most prominently China. The Chinese Communist Party is an avowed threat to America, regularly engaging in illegal acts such as espionage and intellectual property theft. Beijing also regularly asserts false territorial claims and invades India through their mutual border in the Himalayas. The Chinese government illegally claims much of northern India as “South Tibet.” Modi’s government has responded with an unprecedented military buildup on the border and more extensive military cooperation with Washington.
Modi’s India is seeking to challenge China economically, as well, launching a program known as “Make in India” to entice multinational corporations to move much of their supply chains to India, often out of China. Following the disastrous Chinese coronavirus lockdowns in China, which have ravaged the nation’s already weak communist economy, New Delhi has successfully signed agreements with companies such as Apple and Foxconn to expand their manufacturing in India.
Prior to working meetings on Thursday, Modi and Biden focused on cultural ties during their private dinner the night before. The traditional exchange of gifts, according to the Times of India featured an emphasis on Biden’s advanced age, as Modi’s gift “highlights the value and respect Indian tradition associates with experience.”
Biden turned 80 years old in November. At 72, Modi is nearly a decade younger.
Indian government officials described Modi’s box as made of sandalwood “with intricately carved flora and fauna patterns and handcrafted by a master craftsman from Jaipur.” The inside of the box featured several gifts of cultural significance to India, including containers filled with ghee (clarified butter) and white sesame seeds, and a diya, a Hindu oil lamp. The largest item in the box was an idol of Ganesh, a primary Hindu god described as “the destroyer of obstacles.”
The gift, India’s World Is One News (WION) detailed, was meant to celebrate Biden passing his 80th birthday.
“According to ancient Indian text Krishna Yajurveda’s Vaikhanas Grihya Sutram, an individual becomes ‘Drishta Sahasrachandro’ or the one who has seen one thousand full moons when he completes the age of 80 years and eight months,” the outlet explained. “Since a person crossing this stage of life is celebrated and honoured, an elaborate set of Vedic rituals are performed. During one of the rituals, there is a custom of donations of 10 different kinds. The box carries those items which are usually donated after the ritual.”
For Jill Biden, Modi offered a laboratory-created diamond that the Indian government billed as “eco-friendly” and a promise of green mutual development.
The Bidens, in turn, offered Modi several gifts, among them a vintage American camera and a signed, first-edition copy of the Collected Poems of Robert Frost.
Biden’s warm welcome to Modi has caused some tensions among Democrats, who are pressuring him to confront Modi about the human rights crises that have emerged under his Hindu nationalist government, including rampant mob violence against Christians, Muslims, and other religious minorities in the country. In a letter published on Tuesday, 75 Democrats asked Biden to address the “challenges” during his time with the prime minister.
“A series of independent, credible reports reflect troubling signs in India toward the shrinking of political space, the rise of religious intolerance, the targeting of civil society organizations and journalists, and growing restrictions on press freedoms and internet access,” the lawmakers wrote. “[W]e ask that, during your meeting with Prime Minister Modi, you discuss the full range of issues important to a successful, strong, and long-term relationship between our two great countries.”
Three Democrat members of Congress — Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) — are boycotting Modi’s speech to a joint session of the lawmaking body on Thursday.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters this week that Biden does not intend to “lecture” Modi on human rights issues.
“Ultimately, the question of where politics and the question of democratic institutions go in India is going to be determined within India by Indians. It’s not going to be determined by the United States,” he asserted, adding that Biden would nonetheless make his “views known.”