Credits: US Embassy in Delhi
It took another nine years for Washington to send a President to India. Jimmy Carter arrived in India in January 1978 — three months after India concluded its general election in 1977. Indira Gandhi lost to the Janata Party’s Morarji Desai after people revolted against her for emergency period. Carter reportedly wanted to ease the tension between both countries — the Bangladesh War.
During his three-day visit he along with mother Miss Lillian — who is said to have spent some time in India as a Peace Corps volunteer — addressed a joint session in Parliament. He also gifted a television set to a village near Delhi, which changed its name to Caterpuri.
However things didn’t go as planned for Carter. He wanted Desai to call off India's nuclear ambition and had asked India to sign a Nuclear Proliferation Treaty. India refused and that soured the relations.
The trade between US and India however became stronger after Manmohan Singh — the then Finance Minister — liberalised Indian markets. Soon, the US became India’s largest trading partner but no President came to India for 22 long years.