Biden and Modi Share a Light Moment Discussing Biden’s Family in India, Joke About Being Related to Each Other

President Joe Biden stressed the importance of the U.S.-India partnership and lauded the role India played during the COVID-19 pandemic and appreciated its decision to resume Covid vaccine exports. He said he had predicted in 2006 that the U.S. and India would be the closest countries in the world. “Relationship between India and the United States, the oldest democracies in the world, is destined to be stronger, closer and tighter,” Biden said during a bilateral meeting with Modi, Sept. 24. “I think it can benefit the whole world.”

President Biden’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi was held in the White House, ahead of the meeting of the Quad leaders, including Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.

Biden talked about “launching a new chapter in the history of U.S.-India ties and taking on some of the toughest challenges we face together, starting with the shared commitment of ending the COVID-19 pandemic.” He said he is looking forward to discussing with Modi “ways of combating the pandemic, take on the climate challenge that we all face and ensure stability in the Indo-Pacific, including with our own Quad partners.” He continued: “Of course our partnership is more than what we do, it’s about who we are, including our shared responsibility of democratic values, our joint commitment to diversity and about family ties, including 4 million Indian Americans who make the United States stronger every day.”

Modi, in his remarks, said he firmly believes that under Biden’s leadership, the seeds have been sowed for Indo-U.S. to expand, proving to be “a transformative period” for all democratic nations in the world. It is also a transformative period for Indo-U.S. relations, he noted. “When I talk about traditions, I am talking about the democratic traditions, democratic values; traditions to which both our countries are committed and I find that the importance of these traditions will only increase further.”

He acknowledged the role and contributions the nearly 4 million Indian Americans play “in the journey of America,” and noted that the people to people connect with only grow further.

At the start of the meeting, Biden veered off script to add some humor to the meeting as he mentioned learning about an Indian branch of the Biden family when he was first elected to Congress in 1972 when he received a letter from someone called Biden living in Mumbai. “I found out that there was a Captain George Biden, who was a captain in the East India tea company,” Biden said, adding: “That’s hard for an Irishman to admit!”

Biden said he learned that George Biden stayed in India and married an Indian woman. However, he was never able “to track it down,” he told Modi. “So the whole purpose of this meeting is for him [Modi] to help me figure out who he was,” Biden joked.

Modi had a reply for Bien during his address. He told the president that since he had mentioned the connection to him previously, he had hunted for documents that could help him figure out the connection. “Today I have brought along some documents… Maybe those documents could be of use to you,” he told Biden.

“Are we related”? Biden asked Modi, to which he replied “Yes.”

Since he arrived in the nation’s capital, Modi has held bilateral talks with his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison. He also met with executives of five companies, including two Indian Americans — Vivek Lall, Chief Executive of General Atomics Global Corporation and Shantanu Narayen, President and CEO of Adobe.

He also held his first meeting with Vice President Kamala Devi Harris, where the two leaders reiterated the importance of the U.S.-India partnership during their joint press appearance on Sept. 23. Modi was scheduled to leave for New York later on Sept. 24, where he is to address the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly the following day.