In September, the US Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, publicly acknowledged that New Delhi extended an invitation to the US President Joe Biden to be the chief guest for Republic Day 2024. Now sources have confirmed Biden is not going to be the chief guest of the Republic Day celebrations next year and the scheduled Quad summit in January 2024 is also being postponed. The US embassy has not issued any separate announcement on the fate of the Indian invitation (SDW Vol. 1 Issue 12, Story 1). With Biden declining India’s invitation this time around, it will be the second time that the US has turned down an invitation for the President to be the chief guest. India had previously invited Donald Trump to be the chief guest for the 2019 Republic Day parade. However, the Trump administration turned down the invite, citing domestic commitments, especially the State of the Union address. Meanwhile, all five serving Indian-American members of the US Congress – known as the Samosa Caucus – have warned that unless India investigates and holds those responsible for plotting an assassination of US citizen Gurpatwant Singh Pannu on American soil accountable, the issue can cause ‘significant damage’ to the ‘very consequential’ India-US bilateral partnership. They have also sought clear assurance from India that such an incident will never occur again. Last week, the FBI chief visited India and met the heads of various intelligence agencies. The terse press release from Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) says both India and the US recognized ‘the need to expedite sharing of evidence and for closer assistance in bringing criminals and fugitives to face justice.’
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