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[h=4]Obama arrives in India for three-day visit[/h]NEW DELHI (AP) — President Barack Obama opened a three-day visit to India aimed at turning his personal chemistry with Prime Minister Narendra Modi into progress on climate change, defense and economics.
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US President Barack Obama was welcomed to New Delhi on Sunday as he opened a three-day visit to India. AP
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Obama shake hands as the president and First Lady Michelle Obama arrive in New Delhi.(Photo: Press Information Bureau via AFP/Getty Images)
President Obama began a three-day visit to India on Sunday, where he is expected to spend much of the day holding talks on climate change, defense and economic ties with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Modi, wearing a gold kurta, broke protocol to personally welcome Obama with a hug as he disembarked from Air Force One in New Delhi with his wife Michelle.
The president's arrival in New Delhi marked the first time an American leader has visited India twice during his presidency – Obama visited the country in Nov. 2010. Obama is also the first to be invited to attend India's Republic Day festivities, which start Monday and mark the 65th anniversary of the enactment of India's constitution.
"It is a great honor," Obama said after reviewing an Indian honor guard formation at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the presidential palace. "We are so grateful for the extraordinary hospitality."
He later laid a wreath at a memorial honoring the father of India's independence movement, Mahatma Gandhi.
In an interview with India Today ahead of the visit, Obama said: "Forging deeper ties between our two nations has been a key part of my foreign policy since I took office." He said he believed the relationship between the U.S. and India "can be one of the defining partnerships of the 21st century."
In a phone call from India on Sunday, Obama offered his condolences to the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after an online video purportedly showed that a Japanese hostage was murdered by the Islamic State group.
A video released by the extremist group —also known as ISIL or ISIS — on Saturday shows freelance journalist Kenji Goto holding a photo that purportedly shows the dead body of the second hostage, Haruna Yukawa.
President Obama offers a floral tribute at the site where Indian independence icon Mahatma Gandhi was cremated in New Delhi.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: AP)
The normally bustling streets of New Delhi were empty and the sidewalks cleared by police as Obama's motorcade sped from the palace to Gandhi's memorial. A massive security presence was in place for Obama's visit, with numerous roadblocks and armed men lining the streets.
Obama walked in his socks into a walled courtyard to lay a large white wreath at the site where Indian independence icon Mahatma Gandhi was cremated. He then shoveled dirt and poured a pitcher of water around a young tree planted in his honor at the memorial.
While much of Obama's trip to India was to be symbolic, the White House was seeking to make progress on numerous policy matters. Relations between the U.S. and India have been strained in recent years, but have been improving since Modi took office last year.
As Obama and Modi opened their talks Sunday, the prime minister presented the president with a copy of 1950 telegram from the United States congratulating India on the adoption of its constitution.
High on Obama's agenda with Modi is progress on getting heavily polluted India to agree to curb carbon emissions. White House officials hope the surprise climate agreement the U.S. struck with China in November might spur India to take similar steps, though that's unlikely to happen during Obama's visit.
Obama is also expected to push Modi to make changes to liability legislation in India that has prevented U.S. companies from capitalizing on a landmark civil nuclear agreement between the two countries in 2008.
Obama is cutting his trip short to go to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to pay respect to the royal family following the death of King Abdullah. In doing so, the White House had to cancel a tour by the president and first lady of the Taj Mahal, the famed white marble monument to love in the city of Agra.
On Saturday, India's communist parties held a protest march and burned an effigy of Obama, voicing fears of a U.S. domination in economic, nuclear and defense ties with India. "Barack Obama, Hands Off India," chanted nearly 100 protesters during their march in New Delhi.
Around 100 protesters gathered in the Indian capital, New Delhi, on Saturday to demonstrate against US President Barack Obama's visit to the country. (Jan. 24) AP
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