'Extraordinary Success Story': US State Secretary Blinken Hails Modi's India at World Economic Forum

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday termed India as an “extraordinary success story”, saying the policies and programmes of Prime Minister Narendra Modi have been very beneficial to the people of India.

During an interview at the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting 2024, he also said US President Joe Biden and PM Modi enjoy excellent relations and their conversations cover all aspects, including US-India ties.

Praising the expansion of US-India relations, the top American diplomat said the US and India are always in constant conversations and those cover all aspects, including on democracy and fundamental rights. “It’s part of very sustained and very real conversation we have always had,” he said.

His answer came in response to a question on whether the rise of Hindu nationalism concerns India despite the country’s robust economic growth and infrastructure building under the Modi regime.

Israel-Hamas war

On the Middle East conflict, Blinken called on Israel to help rather than hinder the Palestinian Authority, saying that Israel’s long-term security was at stake. He Blinken renewed his call for a “pathway to a Palestinian state” even as Washington backs Israel’s Gaza campaign launched in response to the October 7 Hamas attack.

“You’re not going to get the genuine security you need absent that. And, of course, to that end as well, a stronger, reformed Palestinian Authority that can more effectively deliver for its own people has to be part of the equation,” Blinken said. An effective Palestinian Authority can only operate “with the support, with the help, of Israel, not with its active opposition,” Blinken said.

“Even the most effective Authority is going to have a lot of trouble if it’s got the active opposition of any Israeli government,” he said. The Biden administration has backed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call to eradicate Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, but has called for the Palestinian Authority gradually to take over control in the Gaza Strip.

Fighting has ravaged Gaza since Hamas’s Oct 7 attacks on Israel that resulted in the death of about 1,140 people. At least 24,448 Palestinians, about 70 percent of them women, young children and adolescents, have been killed in Israeli bombardments and ground assaults, according to the Gaza health ministry’s latest figures.

(With agency inputs)