US-India ‘dosti’ is bipartisan, will only grow stronger: Envoy

Indo-US ties “go beyond” the friendship of the American President and the Indian Prime Minister, US envoy Richard Verma on Wednesday said after Republican Donald Trump’s election as the 45th President of the United States.

Verma, who has Indian roots, stressed that the ties that bind the two countries are built on shared democratic values and go beyond the economic and people-to-people ties. It is “bipartisan”, he emphasised.

Verma, appointed by the Obama administration in 2014, had worked closely with Trump’s Democratic contender Hillary Clinton, when she was serving as the Secretary of State. “The ties that bind our two countries together are built on our shared democratic values, and go beyond the friendship of the American President and the Indian Prime Minister. They go beyond the economic and people-to-people ties.

“The US-India relationship is vitally important, it is bipartisan, and it is only growing stronger. Here’s to another four years of robust US-India ‘dosti’ (friendship),” Verma said in a statement. Earlier, when Trump’s victory was all but a foregone conclusion, Verma expressed confidence that “standing up to terrorism”, particularly when it comes to India, would continue to be a priority of the next President. “I would even say that the US India relationship is now a non-partisan issue, it is such an important foreign policy priority that it is in the top tier. Be confident, whatever the result, US-India relationship will continue to grow and prosper in the coming four years,” he said.

He was speaking at the ‘Election Breakfast’ event in the US embassy premises, attended by US citizens in India, diplomats from several countries, senior journalists and celebrities. Verma was to make a statement after the official declaration of the results but he spoke earlier than scheduled as the trends made it clear that Trump was on the cusp of clinching a stunner.

The event, that started off on a celebratory mood at around 7 AM, stretched on beyond schedule as the contest between Trump and Clinton went down to the wire, belying expectations, and in the words of Verma “we would have a clear winner by now.”