Donald Trump, known for his unpredictable leadership style, divisive rhetoric targeting both allies and opponents, and the only US president to be impeached twice, left the White House on Wednesday with a tainted legacy never seen before in American political history.
Democrat Senator Mark Warner and his Republican colleague in the Senate Dan Sullivan, during a programme in Washington asserted that the erstwhile Obama administration and the US Congress designating India as a major defence partner is a significant step forward in taking the India-US relationship to the next level.
The founder of the Republican Hindu Coalition first attracted attention in the US as the "Punjabi tycoon" who was a huge supporter of Narendra Modi in the US. 'He will be best for India. There is no better ally for the US than India in the region,' Shalabh Kumar tells Rediff.com's Vaihayasi Pande Daniel.
According to the Biden-Harris Transition, 'the president-elect noted that he looks forward to working closely with the prime minister on shared global challenges, including containing COVID-19 and defending against future health crises, tackling the threat of climate change, launching the global economic recovery, strengthening democracy at home and abroad, and maintaining a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region'.
Failure to recognise the threat of India's IP abuse is a major step back: Congressman Orrin Hatch.
India's principles are poorly served and its interests 'damaged' by its support for the Iranian military, the senators have argued.
There are about 2 million eligible Indian origin people that can vote.
In his first tweet after election results started coming in US President Trump claimed success. "Tremendous success tonight. Thank you to all!".
Reopening the country to people seeking green cards, or legal permanent residence, Biden in his proclamation on Wednesday said that the policy of former US President Donald Trump does not advance the interests of the United States.
"The country and Maharashtra will benefit out of Pawar's vast experience and hence, it is extremely necessary for Pawar to consider joining the NDA. I invite him to join the NDA," the Union social justice minister said.
Countries across the world -- from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada to Singapore and New Zealand, are witnessing phenomenal strides by Indian-origin politicians, who are now taking on influential and prominent roles in governments and cabinets.
You aren't dealing with a normal, civilised, law. The NDPS Act, in its preconditions for bail, and insistence on evidence of innocence rather than guilt, is worse than UAPA. Imagine yourself or your child at the other end of this, observes Shekhar Gupta.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her American counterpart Mike Pompeo have agreed to reschedule the postponed '2+2 dialogue'.
"This is something we will keep working on together. We strongly support India's accession in the NSG," he said.
The trust some people in India had that the Biden-Harris administration would be friendly to India has been eroded already, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
'Indian nationhood is indeed at the cusp of alarming redefinition -- hate-filled, and exclusionary.' 'Nations are not built this way, instead these are the ways of liquidating nations.' 'We must pre-empt it.' 'Can we?' asks Mohammad Sajjad.
Mr Trump's endorsement is a compelling reason Indians waiting for the Turnaround that is Just Around the Corner shouldn't take him too seriously.
He said Pakistan was working with the international community to ensure the security of its nuclear installations, which were always in safe hands.
Any settlement with Pakistan won't last unless it comes with big power guarantees, says Shekhar Gupta.
Gandhi also hailed Vice President-elect Kamala Harris' success as a 'triumph for Black Americans and Indian Americans'. The Congress chief said she knew Harris would work to heal and unite a 'bitterly divided nation'.
Transition sources said Trump is close to selecting 55-year-old Tellis to be the next US envoy to India to replace Richard Verma who was appointed US Ambassador to India by outgoing President Barack Obama in 2015.
'It's going to be India's century. India is going to be the biggest economy in the world,' says economist Clyde Prestowitz.
Harris, 55, is the first Indian-American to be selected for the second-highest elected office of the United States after that of the president. She is also the first-ever Black and first-ever African American to be nominated as a vice-presidential candidate by a major political party.
Former United States President George W Bush campaigned for his younger brother for the first time on Monday night.
Rice argued that the re-positioning of American diplomats from Europe to India was indeed making a difference to foreign policy.
US Congressman Ed Royce, a ranking Republican on the influential House Foreign Affairs Committee, has warned the Obama administration against undoing all the Bush administration's hard work in developing closer ties with India, by coveting China at the expense of New Delhi.
Kamala succeeded as she identified herself with the larger minority groups rather than narrow ethnicity, prodded by her mother who did not want to return to India, observes Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, who has done multiple stints in India's embassy in Washington, DC.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has pledged that his administration would rejoin the historic Paris Agreement on climate change.
The lawmakers will meet PM Singh and Sonia Gandhi.
When 17 million Indians seek their fortune abroad it only means people are losing faith in the government's ability to honour its promises, says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
Shah, who is in his early 30s, is currently head of Opposition Research in the Republican National Committee.
"Senator McCain wants India to be a part of the expanded G-8 format. But he feels that India's claim to a permanent membership of the UN Security Council was hard to come by because of the complicated equations there," adviser to John McCain's presidential campaign Richard R Burt said.
Under Trump presidency one should expect much more cooperation between the US and India, said Indian-American Republican from Texas Ashok Mago.
"We have been very clear with the Indians, should India test, as it has agreed not to do, or should India in any way violate the IAEA safeguards agreements to which it would be adhering, the deal, from our point of view, would, at that point, be off," Burns pointed out.
Several American lawmakers have slammed India for failing to condemn Russia's aggression in Ukraine, Russian rebels' downing of flight MH17 and the annexation of Crimea. The leaders also raised the issue of repeated abuse and violence against minorities and women in India. Aziz Haniffa reports.
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent address to a joint session of Congress, top Republican senator John McCain had moved an amendment to the National Defence Authorisation Act which if passed would have recognised India as a global strategic and defence partner.
The seat-sharing talks between the two parties are likely to conclude in a day or two, a BJP source said.