Amid strain in ties, Biden not to attend Republic Day ceremony

American President Joe Biden will not attend the Republic Day ceremony in New Delhi amid strains in bilateral relations in the wake of the allegation by Washington DC about the involvement of the Narendra Modi government in a plot to kill Khalistani extremist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun in the United States.

With Biden turning down the invitation to attend the January 26 ceremony, Modi has also dropped the plan to host Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a summit of the Quad the next day.

The summit of the four-nation bloc is now likely to be held later next year. A source said on Tuesday that India would look for new dates as the dates under consideration had not worked with all four nations.  

It was US ambassador Eric Garcetti who revealed on September 20 that Modi invited Biden to be the chief guest at the R-Day ceremony. He said this 10 days after the US president attended the G20 summit hosted by Modi, fuelling speculation about a second visit by the US president.

But with the US not confirming acceptance of the invitation, India too remained tightlipped about the second visit. New Delhi wanted to take advantage of Biden's visit for the Republic Day ceremony to hold the Quad summit on January 27. But the Biden administration has been citing his 'State of the Union' address to the US Congress around the same date as a hurdle in scheduling his India visit.