DNA Exclusive: 20 Indo-Americans in Joe Biden's team, India is becoming soft power in US politics?

In DNA on Tuesday, Zee News Editor-in-Chief Sudhir Chaudhary speaks on US President-elect Joe Biden and the importance of India in the politics of America. With the oath ceremony of Biden, a new story of Indo-US friendship will be etched. During the era of Barack Obama, Joe Biden supported India on many issues including the 2008 nuclear deal. Biden's tough stand against terror is considered to be good for India, Indian professionals and students can benefit from Biden's policy on immigration, he can support India against China and India can benefit from this.

In a couple of hours, 78-year-old Joe Biden will become the new as well as the oldest president of the United States of Amercia on Wednesday. The team of Joe Biden includes 20 Indian-American people and this is by far the largest number of Indians in the team of any US President. It can also be called India's growing soft power in American politics.

Let us give you a quick update on the Indo-American people in Biden's team. 50-year-old Neera Tandon is the most important member in the list of these Indians and she will play a big role in preparing the US budget. 45-year-old Vanita Gupta has been nominated for the third most important post of the US Department of Justice, Associate Attorney General.

Dr Vivek Murthy will recommend improving the health of the American people, 47-year-old Mala Adiga will advise the President's wife on matters of policy, and 32-year-old Sabrina Singh has been appointed Media Advisor of First Lady. Also, Ayesha Shah will convey the President's messages to the people of America through the internet, and Sameera Fazili will advise Joe Biden on economic matters. The Committee on Economic Affairs also includes Bharata Ramamurthy. Gautam Raghavan will appoint staffs for the President. 

Those closest to the president will be Vinay Reddy who has been entrusted with the responsibility of writing the speeches of Joe Biden. Vedanta Patel will be the Assistant Press Secretary to the President. Three people of Indian origin have been included in the National Security Council to give decisions on matters related to the national security of the US.

Sonia Aggarwal has been made Senior Advisor for Environmental Affairs, Vidur Sharma has been given the responsibility in the team that saved America from coronavirus and two women of Indian-origin have also been appointed in the team to provide legal advice to the US President.

At this time, Joe Biden is trying to strengthen the US again and for this, he depends on these important people of his team. The US is one of the oldest democracies in the world. There have been 45 presidents in the last 233 years and the swearing-in has taken place 72 times. Despite being a democracy, there is a difference between India and America. In India, there is an oath-taking ceremony for the prime minister after winning the election, while in the US it is called Inauguration Day. Now the question arises that despite having a similar role, why is it called Inauguration Day in America?

The term inauguration was used in the ancient Roman Empire. At that time, the clergy used to decide with the help of a religious rite whether a person was worthy of taking a high position and this ritual itself was called inauguration. At present, the term Inauguration is used for swearing-in in many countries including America, Russia, Ireland and Brazil.

Inauguration Day is a formal ceremony. As soon as it is complete, the term of the US President begins. The ceremony is held in the US capital Washington DC in front of the US Parliament and in this ceremony the new President of America takes his oath of office. According to the US Constitution, every president is required to take an oath by the afternoon of January 20 after the election is over.

In this program, first, the Vice-President takes the oath and then the President. For this, the President has to repeat the oath of just 35 words prescribed by the Constitution. When Joe Biden will be sworn in, there will have an emergency in Washington DC and thousands of army personnel will be stationed there for security. After the swearing-in, the new president will make an opening speech and in this, he will talk about his goals and objectives for America.

In this ceremony, the President who exits office is also present. When Donald Trump was sworn in in 2017, former president Barack Obama was also present. But Trump has already announced his absence. In US history, only three presidents have done this so far and in the last 100 years, no president has done this. This tradition will also be broken on January 20.

The place where Joe Biden will take an oath, 14 days ago it was the scene of the most horrific violence in the history of modern America in which six people died. Had the situation been normal in America, millions of people would have attended this ceremony. At the time of the swearing-in of Barack Obama in 2009, there were about 20 lakh people present in Washington DC. But this time due to the possibility of violence and the coronavirus pandemic, this event will not be so grand.

Joe Biden will visit the White House on Wednesday after the ceremony and this will be his official residence for the next four years. The US media often uses words such as Hindu Nationalist for the current Prime Minister of India. However, the Western media criticizing religion does not comment on the religious traditions of their presidents. Joe Biden may also follow the tradition of going to church before being sworn in on Wednesday. The tradition started in 1933 by the then US president Franklin Roosevelt.

Inauguration Day is not America's public holiday but most people watch the oath-taking ceremony and its related programs on television. A person will also be able to watch this program live on Zee News and it will be held at 10 pm (IST).

With the oath ceremony of Joe Biden, a new story of Indo-US friendship will begin. During the Obama era, Joe Biden supported India on many issues including the 2008 nuclear deal. Biden's tough stand against terror is considered to be good for India, Indian professionals and students can benefit from Biden's policy on immigration, he can support India against China and India can benefit from this.

However, there are some issues on which Biden's stance does not match with that of India. He doesn't fully agree with India's views on the issues of Jammu and Kashmir, Citizenship (Amendment) Act and National Register of Citizens (NRC). Even on the issue of Pakistan, Biden has never made his stand clear. So this is also a case where some difficulties may come for India.