For the past decade, Washington and New Delhi have been pursuing a "strategic partnership" based on shared values and apparently convergent geopolitical interests. The two countries since have engaged in numerous and combined military exercises, and major U.S. arms sales to India are underway. Still, independent analysts in both countries worry that the partnership has lost momentum in recent years. In May 2014, India's national election resulted in a convincing and historic win for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP or "Indian Peoples Party") and its prime ministerial candidate, then-Gujarat state Chief Minister Narendra Modi. The new Indian leader is known as a strong-willed and effective, if perhaps autocratic, administrator. Garnering an outright majority in Parliament for the first time in 30 years, Modi's new government promises fresh U.S. engagement with an Indian leader reputed to be more pro-trade and pro-business than the socialist-oriented ones of the past, and who vows to implement a more assertive Indian foreign policy that could see the country shift away from its traditional "non-alignment" approach to global politics. He also is a controversial andâamong someâeven reviled figure due to persistent suspicions about his possible role in horrific communal rioting in Gujarat in 2002 that left up to 2,000 people dead, most of them Muslims. Modi is set to visit the U.S. capital in late September. On Capitol Hill, Members of both chambers took positive note of India's democratic exercise and its new government, and expressed recognition of the importance of the bilateral relationship. In this view, the interest is evoked by the strong electoral win of a Delhi outsider, the optimism emanates mainly from the business community, which anticipates a stronger reform impulse, and the worries are about the potentially negative effects of past U.S. shunning of Modi, as well as his record of taking a hardline posture toward India's religious minorities. As an unapologetic nationalist, many prognosticators see Prime Minister Modi as eager to demonstrate his bona fides vis-a-vis Beijing. Yet China has also emerged as India's largest trade partner in recent years. Hindu nationalists have a relatively short, but long-standing list of political goals. Issues in U.S.-India Relations

Along with the economic, security, and human rights issues discussed below, the United States and India engage closely on myriad other global and multilateral issues, including science and technology; space; healthcare; education; and sustainable growth, energy, and climate change, among others.
The United States and India have been pursuing a "strategic partnership" since 2004, and a 5 th Strategic Dialogue session was held in New Delhi in late July 2014. A May 2014 national election seated a new Indian government led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and new Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Top U.S. officials express eagerness to engage India's new leadership and re-energize what some see as a relationship flagging in recent years. High hopes for the engagement have become moderated as expectations held in both capitals remain unmet, in part due to a global economic downturn that has dampened commercial activity. Yet the two countries, estranged through the Cold War period, have now routinized cooperative efforts through myriad working groups on an array of bilateral and global issues.
Prime Minister Modi is known as an able administrator, having overseen impressive economic development in 15 years as chief minister of India's Gujarat state. But he also is a controversial figure for his Hindu nationalist views and for communal rioting that killed up to 2,000 people, most of them Muslims, in Gujarat in 2002. His BJP made history by becoming the first party to win an outright parliamentary majority in 30 years, meaning India's federal government is no longer constrained by the vagaries of coalition politics. Domestic and international proponents of Modi's business-friendly policies are hopeful that these circumstances will make for more effective governance and streamlined economic reforms. Detractors, concerned about protecting India's inherently secular nature under a Hindu nationalist government, and worry about future respect for India's freedoms of religion and expression.
This report reviews the major current issues in U.S.-India relations, including areas of both cooperation and contention, the latter most visible in trade and economic engagement in recent years. For a brief review of the election, as well as key government officials and parties, see CRS In Focus IF00037, India's Domestic Political Setting , by [author name scrubbed].