TIL Desk/National/New Delhi-John Kerry’s Town Hall with IIT Delhi students. The US Secretary of State was delayed after he got stuck in the heavy rain in Delhi. Kerry’s Town Hall was scheduled for 10 am, but began an hour later. Kerry begins his speech with a much-deserved taunt for the Delhi-Gurugram civic bodies by drain shaming India. “Don’t know how you all got here. You must have needed boats to get here,” he said wryly.
Highlights of his speech…
— Ties wih India is a priority for the US. US is India’s biggest trade market.
— Sole constant in India is change. India is an established power now.
— The deep cooperation between India and US matters to both our countries but also to the rest of the world.
— Big challenges facing India, US. Have to confront challenges together. Security threat biggest threat.
— We both know pain of terrorism.
— Battle to counter terrorists and extremists cannot be won by one nation.
— Rising India will play a critical role in resolving challenges posed by poverty, terrorism, unsustainable growth.
— President Obama and PM Modi have established a personal relationship that is built on common sense of purpose and vision.
— Wherever I go, I find a robust debate, and an ambitious vision of future. This is perhaps in Indian DNA.
— Non-state actors biggest threat.
— Terror groups like Daesh, Al Qaeda, LeT, JeM can’t be fought by a single nation alone.
— We must strike at the root causes of violent extremism and we have to work hard to understand different variations of causes.
— Battle to counter terrorists and extremists cannot be won by one nation.
— We have to respect rights of all our citizens irrespective of creed and allow them to protest in peace without fear that they will be jailed for speaking.
