For the first time, a US secretary of state is set to visit India without any planned meetings in New Delhi.
Marco Rubio’s itinerary instead includes Mumbai and Jamnagar during his trip from October 17–22 to India and Uzbekistan. In Uzbekistan, he will visit Samarkand, the second-largest city of the country and notably, also not the capital.
Although it is Ahmedabad that has emerged as the centre-stage of India’s diplomatic engagements ever since Narendra Modi’s prime ministership began in 2014 – Modi has hosted Trump, Xi Jinping, Shinzo Abe and Benjamin Netanyahu there – this is the first time Jamnagar has been thrust into the spotlight.
Jamnagar is home to the Indian oligarch Mukesh Ambani family’s major business interests where Rubio will meet “senior government officials”. It has the Reliance Industries’ refinery, which is the world’s largest single-site complex. In March, US President Donald Trump had announced the construction of a $300-billion refinery on the southern US border backed by Reliance Industries.
Meanwhile, legislation in waiting in the US could impose tariffs of up to 100% on countries purchasing Russian oil, including India. The US-India bilateral trade deal also hangs fire.
This visit comes as US oligarch Elon Musk described Ambani as the “real boss of India” last week.
While the White House has announced Rubio’s itinerary October 13, the exact date of his arrival in India is yet to be confirmed.
“Several issues of a bilateral nature will be discussed,” said Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said a day ago on October 14, when he was questioned on the agenda of Rubio’s visit.
Rubio’s May visit to India had included a highly publicised visit to the Missionaries of Charity headquarters in Kolkata, which in turn thrust the stringent Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) back into the spotlight.
This story was originally published in The Wire.