Pratap Bhanu Mehta on Modi's US visit: Making of a high point

The India-US relationship is reaching a new high point. But the significance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's trip to the US will be obscured by short-term political framings. There will be the sheer political theatre of the US courting India and the Prime Minister leveraging this moment to shore up his domestic political legitimacy. There will be the disappointment of those who think the Biden Administration is actually going out of its way to give its imprimatur on the state of India's democracy. But "democracy" was not going to be an issue in this phase of India-US relations. For all…