Bastille Day welcome for Modi as France courts India

President Emmanuel Macron’s red carpet welcome comes weeks after Modi was given the rare honour of a White House state dinner in Washington — a city he was once banned from visiting.

That visit saw deals on arms sales, semiconductor investment and space cooperation, breezing past human rights concerns over India’s Hindu nationalist government and accusations of rising religious intolerance towards the country’s Muslim minority.

Further strategic and economic tie-ups are expected in Paris, which is seeking to broaden its engagement in Asia alongside other Western nations to check growing Chinese assertiveness in the region.

Modi’s visit alongside Indian troops joining the annual Bastille Day military parade marks “a new phase in the strategic partnership between France and India”, Macron’s Elysee Palace office said in June.

Both countries have “a shared vision of peace and security, especially in Europe and in the Indo-Pacific region”, the statement added, using a term used by the US and its allies for the Asia-Pacific region.

Modi, who greeted the French leader with his customary bearhug during the latter’s first state visit to India in 2018, said on Twitter last week that he was “looking forward to meeting with my friend President Macron”.

“The India-France Strategic Partnership holds great significance for global good,” he added.

India is already a customer for French arms, including Dassault’s Rafale fighter jets, as it seeks to modernise its forces to match potential future threats from its northern neighbour.

The urgency of New Delhi’s task has been heightened by simmering disputes with Beijing over the countries’ immense Himalayan frontier, the site of a 2020 clash that killed 20 Indian and four Chinese troops, and sent relations between both capitals into free fall.