Jill Biden is taking Indian Prime Minister Modi on side trip before Thursday's White House visit
Jill Biden is taking Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a side trip before his state visit and fancy state dinner Thursday at the White House
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Jill Biden is taking Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a side trip to Virginia on Wednesday, a day before his formal state visit and fancy dinner at the White House.
India's leader was arriving from New York, where earlier Wednesday he performed backbends and corpse poses during a yoga session with a multinational crowd on the lawn of the United Nations.
President Joe Biden, who invited Modi on a state visit, has spent the past two days in California raising money for his reelection campaign and was due back in Washington later Wednesday.
Despite deep differences with India over its record on human rights and its approach to Russia's war in Ukraine, Biden nevertheless extended to Modi the administration's third invitation for a state visit. With all the pomp and attention being paid to Modi, Biden hopes to firm up his relationship with the leader of a country the U.S. believes will be a pivotal force in Asia for decades to come.
In a warmup of sorts to Thursday, the first lady arranged a visit Wednesday to the National Science Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia, for an event highlighting workforce training programs for Modi, who leads one of the world's largest democracies with an estimated 1.4 billion people. She typically takes the spouse of a visiting leader on an outing in the Washington area, but Modi was traveling alone.
Afterward, the first lady was returning to the White House to unveil the decor and menu for Thursday's state dinner, which is being held in a temporary pavilion erected on the South Grounds of the White House. She enlisted help from a guest chef, Nina Curtis, who specializes in plant-based cooking, to work on the three dinner courses with the White House kitchen staff. Modi is a vegetarian.
Violinist Joshua Bell will entertain guests after dinner.
Jill Biden is a career community college teacher who has taken on a big role in helping her husband's administration promote “career-connected” learning as an alternative to four years of college.
At the science foundation, the first lady and Modi will also meet students from the U.S. and India, and participate in a moderated conversation.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.