US-India relationship doing ‘exceptionally well’

Billing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to the United States as the “most productive” ever, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar said the US-India relationship was doing “exceptionally well.”

Taking questions at a townhall event in New Delhi on Wednesday, his first public remarks after he returned from his visit to the U.S. and Egypt, where he went as part of Mr. Modi’s team, Mr. Jaishankar said the Prime Minister was seen internationally as a “more authentic Indian.”

However, he declined to comment on the controversy over comments by former U.S. President Barack Obama that were critical of Mr. Modi and minority rights in the country.

“We have had the most productive Prime Ministerial visit [to the US] in our history if you look at the outcomes. One part of that is that it was a state visit, and the first time an Indian Prime Minister has addressed the US Congress twice,” Mr. Jaishankar told an audience at the India International Centre, citing agreements in areas such as defence, trade, people-to-people ties, space, and science.