BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav said on Friday that Jammu and Kashmir will soon get a coalition government. He however declined to give a date for government formation. Madhav was speaking at the Third India Today Global Roundtable in New Delhi on Friday.

Defending the government over bringing in numerous ordinances, Madhav said that the government has shown its sincerity in getting reforms done but the ordinances had to be brought because of political compulsions. “The ordinances will soon be made into laws. The global investor is convinced that his investments will be safe in India today”, Madhav said.

Talking about US President Barack Obama’s Republic Day visit, Madhav termed it as a defining visit. “We have been friends for a long time but it was only Vajpayee who called the two countries natural allies. On a lighter note, Madhav wondered what the US President will say as he watches Russian military equipment and tanks roll down in the parade.

Taking the significance of President Obama’s visit further, Sanjay Baru, former media advisor to the Prime Minister, said that the visit is going to be more than a spectacle. “This will be a major turning point as the foundations for the visit have been laid over the last 10 years. We should not be looking at the meeting as a transactional thing or in terms of the numbers of agreements signed”, Baru said.

Baru added that the Indian government has been successful in creating an environment for doing business in India. “It is not just about encouraging American companies to invest in India but it is about encouraging business in the country”, Baru emphasised. Quoting from his experience of talking to American companies who are invested in India, Baru said that the ones which are here are happy to be here. “My question is not whether the Americans will invest here but if they will be able to catch up with the other countries who are already invested here”, Baru said.

On how the media perceives the Presidential visit, Baru said that while the Indian media goes overboard, the US media tends to remain critical. It is something that had happened during the Indo-US nuclear deal as well, Baru elucidated.

Highlighting the importance of a US President watching the Republic Day parade, Robinder Sachdev, Founding Member and Director, US India Political Action Committee, said that it will perhaps be the first time that the grand spectacle will be seen globally. Citing the significance of a US President coming twice to India during his term, Sachdev said this proves that the country has scored high above in its friendship.

Talking about the contentious issue of fragmented and diverse cultural groups of NRIs in the US, Sachdev said that the nature of these diverse cultural groups is definitely changing after Prime Minister Modi’s visit. “It was for the first time that different Indian organisations came together for a supranational bigger role in the US.”

Madhav too highlighted the significance of the New York and the Sydney events by saying that this is the time when the NRIs are united want to come back to India and contribute to its development.