Indo-US ties “go beyond” the friendship of the American President and the Indian Prime Minister, US envoy Richard Verma after Mr Trump’s election as the 45th President of the US on Wednesday.
Mr Richard Verma — who is of Indian origin and an Obama appointee — said that the US was “pretty divided” during the “impassioned” campaign and that the new President would have to “bring the country together”. The mood in the US embassy premises for many was distinctly sombre during the counting process when Mr Trump began surging ahead, with some of the women even sobbing after Ms Clinton was defeated.
Addressing a gathering at the US embassy in the national capital, which was witnessing the live coverage of the US presidential poll counting process, and speaking ahead of the final declaration of results, Mr Verma said the US was “pretty divided” in what was a “hard-fought impassioned campaign”. Significantly, the US envoy made it clear that the victor has to “bring the Country together” and that one “can’t govern in a divided country” but only in a “united country”. The US envoy added, “There is a need to reach out.” Mr Verma said the “priority is to stand up to terrorism” and that there was “an economic message”.
Mr Verma, appointed by the Obama administration in 2014, worked closely with Mr Trump’s Democratic contender Hillary Clinton, when she was serving as the secretary of state.
“The ties that bind our two countries together are built on our shared democratic values, and go beyond the friendship of the American President and the Indian PM. They go beyond the economic and people-to-people ties. The US-India relationship is vitally important, it is bipartisan, and it is only growing stronger. Here’s to another four years of robust US-India ‘dosti’ (friendship),” Mr Verma said in a statement.
Earlier, when Mr Trump’s victory was all but a foregone conclusion, Mr Verma expressed confidence that “standing up to terrorism”, particularly when it comes to India, would continue to be a priority of the next President.
“I would even say that the US India relationship is now a non-partisan issue, it is such an important foreign policy priority that it is in the top tier. Be confident, whatever the result, US-India relationship will continue to grow and prosper in the coming four years,” he said.
He was speaking at the ‘Election Breakfast’ event in the US embassy premises, attended by US citizens in India, diplomats from several countries, senior journalists and celebrities.
Mr Verma was to make a statement after the official declaration of the results but he spoke earlier than scheduled as the trends made it clear that Trump was on the cusp of clinching a stunner.
The event, that started off on a celebratory mood at around 7 am, stretched on beyond schedule as the contest between Trump and Clinton went down to the wire, belying expectations, and in the words of Mr Verma “we would have a clear winner by now.”
