Washington: Eric Garcetti, a former mayor of Los Angeles and Democratic Party politician, has now been officially confirmed by Washington to serve as the US ambassador to India. Since the Senate voted 52-42 to confirm him, he should be arriving at Roosevelt House, the American envoy's house in New Delhi, in the coming days.
It's also about time, as the US has been without an ambassador in New Delhi for more than two years, ever since Kenneth Juster left on January 20, 2021, when the White House changed guard. It is the longest period without a US ambassador that New Delhi has experienced.
It took the Clinton White House 14 months to name Frank Wisner as the replacement envoy after Thomas Pickering, the US ambassador to New Delhi for just under a year, was transferred to Moscow in March 1993. Some others perceived the delay as a lack of consideration for, if not a slight against, a nation that, at the time, was the US's relatively weak and distant ally in a unipolar world.
Garcetti was originally nominated by President Biden to be the US ambassador to India on July 9, 2021. It took the Senate 20 months to confirm him - a tortured process that was stalled over accusations that he ignored sexual assault and harassment allegations against a former top aide. It became such a mud slinging that the initial nomination lapsed and Biden had to re-nominate him earlier this year, saying he has “confidence in mayor Garcetti and believes he’ll be an excellent representative in India at a critical moment and calls for the Senate to swiftly confirm him”. The Senate eventually did in a bipartisan vote that saw three Democratic lawmakers vote against him and seven Republicans vote for him.
