WASHINGTON DC (TIP): Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not be addressing the US Congress when he visits Washington DC in September for a summit with President Barack Obama. The Republican Speaker of the US House of Representatives, John Boehner has sent a “welcome but” invitation to the PM.
In a July 30 letter to the PM, Boehner said he wanted to ensure that Modi “is aware of the interest that exists in the US House of Representatives in inviting you to address a Joint Meeting of Congress at some future date.” “If not for the unpredictability of the House schedule in late September of this year, an invitation for you to address a Joint Meeting during your upcoming trip to the United States would have been extended,” he wrote.
Prime Ministers Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh both addressed a joint session of the two chambers, viewed as the highest honour Congress can bestow on a foreign head of state. An invitation to Modi to address Congress were endorsed in eight separate letters circulating in the House and Senate. Meanwhile, the Indian American Community Foundation plans to host Modi at a special event being held on Septermber 28 at Madison Square Garden in New York to provide him a platform to officially address the Indian-American community in the US.
PM Modi Will Not Address the US Congress. Here’s Why
