Barrack Obama, US President has accepted the invitation from Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India to celebrate as chief guest for India’s Republic day ceremony (Held on 26 th January that marks the India’s constitution execution on Jan. 26, 1950).
It is to be the fourth US presidential visit to India in 15 years and the second by Obama, who travelled to the country in 2010. This visit will also mark first time a US president will have the honour of attending Indian Republic Day ceremony as a chief guest.
The event will mark Indo-US relations to new highs after straining of ties created by Devyani Khobragade Incident (11 th December 2013), WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) tussles. The relations were restored by Modi’s visit to US on September 2014.
India traditionally invites a head of state to be the chief guest for its Republic Day celebrations, which climaxes in a military parade showcasing its nuclear capable missiles. Previous chief guests included heads of state or government from India’s immediate neighbourhood, members of the UN Security Council like France and leaders from the developing world like Indonesia and Brazil. Last year (2013) Republic day ceremony was attended by the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as the chief guest of honour.
Source – LiveMint, Reuters.
