'India Stands Tall' as a Beacon of Peace, Prosperity, Innovation, Says Outgoing Envoy to US Sandhu

India today stands tall as a marker of peace, innovation, and prosperity, the outgoing US Ambassador to India, Taranjit Singh Sandhu said this week, underlining that the country with over a billion people has proved to the world that Science and Spirituality can converge.

“Today, India stands tall as a marker of peace, stability, innovation, and prosperity,” India’s Ambassador to the US, Sandhu, said in his address to the community leaders and embassy officials after unfurling the national flag on the occasion of 75th Republic Day. A large number of the Indian-American community leaders along with embassy officials attended the unfurling of the national flag and Republic Day celebrations at the Indian Embassy in downtown Washington DC on Friday.

“India has proved to the world that Science and Spirituality can converge; ancient and modern can converge; unity and diversity can converge; physical and digital can converge; bilateral friendships and plural-lateral bondings can converge. We are unique; Bharati-yatra ensures synergy and convergence, he said. “When we look at our journey of the last 75 years as a nation, we are proud of our achievements; we are equally inspired, to make more strides, in our journey ahead. We have lived the dream of our forefathers; our children give us more confidence and hope to aim bigger,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.

G20 presidency

“Our G20 presidency, where we brought together diverse opinions, and generated consensus; Our commitment to being, a voice for the global south, reflected in the Summit as well as in the inclusion of Africa in the G20; India reaching the moon- our Chandrayaan; and the launch of the Global Biofuels Alliance, reflecting our commitment to green growth,” he said. “On a bilateral level – Prime Minister Modi’s historic state visit to the US in June last year – the ceremonial & substantive aspects were clearly visible, President Joe Biden’s visit to India in September; Launch of iCET, taking our tech partnership to the next level,” he said.

“Be it technology or trade, space or semiconductors, healthcare, energy, or people-to-people exchanges the two countries are closely cooperating in all areas of human activity. Our engagements in multilateral forums, such as G20, Quad, I2U2, and many others, demonstrate that our partnership delivers, not only for the citizens of our two countries but also for the world at large,” Sandhu said.

Sandhu Retires

The 61-year-old Indian envoy’s address comes as he is set to retire from the foreign service after 35 years of diplomatic career this month. Sandhu has been one of the leading architects of the flourishing India-US relationship. In his remarks at a farewell reception hosted in honour of the outgoing Indian envoy this week, Mukesh Aghi, the president and CEO of US-India Strategic and Partnership Forum (USISPF), said Sandhu’s resume of achievements remains long and impressive.

When Ambassador Sandhu took the helm in Washington in February 2020, ominous times were about to upend the economies and suspend daily lives, Aghi said, adding that a cataclysmic pandemic meant new challenges even for a veteran diplomat. Sandhu steered through Covid-19, helping Indian students return home, working through visa backlogs for the diaspora, and strengthening vaccine diplomacy between the two countries.

(With agency inputs)