WASHINGTON/Hyderabad: State dinner in honor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was attended by a gathering of over 380 guests with top industrialists from India and Indian-diaspora CEO contingent rubbing their shoulders, on Thursday night (local time).
From Indian industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Anand Mahindra and Indian-diaspora C-level executives including Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and Netflix Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria, were among the expected list of guests for the evening. Scroll down for full list at the end of the article.
Film Maker M Night Shyamalan powered past reporters as he arrived, declaring it "lovely" to be at the White House. Lauren, who paired his tuxedo with gray New Balance sneakers, revealed he'd designed first lady Jill Biden's off-shoulder green gown, calling her style "chic and elegant." And violinist Joshua Bell, part of the after-dinner entertainment, said the evening was a "little different than anything I've done before." "I'll skip out and practice for half an hour" during dinner, Bell said. He said he wished he could perform first and then have some wine.
Read-White House dinner: I wish I could sing, PM Modi tells US President Biden
Saris — some thoroughly modern and including a Barbiecore hot pink one — and sequins were prominent among those attending the splashy, black-tie event, with a guest list of about 400 names heavy with prominent Indian Americans. Politicians of both parties also made the cut, notably including Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. Other notables included social media influencer Jay Shetty, big Democratic donors like Florida lawyer John Morgan and civil rights activist Martin Luther King III. The CEO contingent included Apple's Tim Cook.
Guest dining on a plant-based menu of millet, Portobello mushrooms and strawberry shortcake, catering to the vegetarian tastes of the prime minister. For guests wanting something more, there was roast sea bass available on request. Despite deep differences over human rights and India's stance on Russia's war in Ukraine, President Joe Biden extended to Modi the administration's third invitation for a state visit. It included the state dinner, a high diplomatic honor that the U.S. reserves for its closest allies.
Biden hopes all the pomp and attention being lavished on Modi — from the thousands who gathered on the White House lawn to cheer his arrival in the morning to the splashy dinner at the end of the day — will help him firm up relations with the leader of a country the U.S. believes will be a pivotal force in Asia for decades to come.
Guests were riding trolley cars down to a pavilion erected on the White House south grounds decorated in the green and saffron colors of India's flag. Despite concerns about backsliding on democracy in India, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said she was attending to send the message that the nation of 1.4 billion people is important and "we must call out some of the real issues that are threatening the viability of democracy in all of our countries."
A group of more than 70 lawmakers, organized by Jayapal, wrote to Biden this week urging him to raise concerns about the erosion of religious, press and political freedoms with Modi. Jayapal, who praised Modi's leadership skills, told The Associated Press earlier that Modi "has the ability to move India and the people in his party back to the values that we have held so dear as a country."
Pichai said he looked forward to the dinner as "an exciting time for U.S.-India relations." "I think we have two countries which have a lot of shared foundations, large democratic systems and values," Pichai said earlier Thursday in an interview. He cited technology as one area of mutual interest between the nations. "So I think it's an exciting opportunity. I'm glad there is a lot of investment in a bilateral relationship."
Read-PM Modi, Prez Biden raise toast at White House Dinner
Jill Biden enlisted California-based chef Nancy Curtis to help in the kitchen. Curtis specializes in plant-based cooking and said the menu "showcases the best of American cuisine seasoned with Indian elements and flavors." Saffron risotto accompanied the mushroom main course, and dessert was infused with cardamom and rose syrup. She used millet because India is leading an international year of recognition for the grain.
Lotus flowers, which are native to Asia and featured in Indian design, were visible throughout the pavilion, along with saffron-hued floral arrangements that differed from table to table. "We hope guests feel as if someone has set that table just for them — because we have," the first lady said as she and her staff previewed the setup.
After-dinner entertainment was from Bell; Penn Masala, a South Asian a cappella group founded by students at the University of Pennsylvania; and the U.S. Marine Band Chamber Orchestra. India was last honored with a state visit in 2009, when President Barack Obama pulled out all the stops for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. More than 300 guests attended what was the first big social event of the new administration.
But it made headlines worldwide after a celebrity-seeking husband and wife were admitted, even though they were not invited, and were able to interact with both leaders. The embarrassing episode led the White House and U.S. Secret Service, which protects the president and the executive mansion, to overhaul its clearance and security procedures.
Here is the full list of expected guests at the White House Dinner:
- Huma Abedin & Heba Abedin
- Reem Acra & Nicolas Tabbal
- Mala Adiga, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of Policy and Projects for the First Lady & Charles Biro
- Revathi Advaithi & Jeevan Mulgund
- Salman Ahmed, Director of Policy Planning Staff, U.S. Department of State & Cat Davis Ahmed
- Kiran Ahuja, Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management & Robert Shriver III, Deputy Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management
- Sam Altman & Oliver Mulherin
- Mukesh Ambani & Nita Ambani
- Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Defense, U.S. Department of Defense & Charlene Austin
- Arindam Bagchi, Additional Secretary and Official Spokesperson of the Republic of India
- Bela Bajaria & Rekha Bajaria
- Bharat Barai & Panna Barai
- John Bass, Undersecretary for Management, U.S. Department of State & Holly Holzer Bass
- Josh Bekenstein & Anita Bekenstein
- Joshua Bell
- Stephen K. Benjamin, Assistant to the President & Senior Advisor to the President for Public Engagement & Seema Shrivastava-Patel
- Ami Bera, U.S. Representative & Janine Vivienne Bera
- Anthony Bernal, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the First Lady
- Hunter Biden & Melissa Cohen Biden
- Ashley Biden & Seema Sadanandan
- James Biden & Sara Biden
- Naomi Biden Neal & Peter Neal
- Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of State, U.S. Department of State & Evan Ryan, Assistant to the President and Cabinet Secretary
- Linden Prause Blue & Chollada Blue
- Lael Brainard, Assistant to the President and Director of the National Economic Council & Kurt Campbell, Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific, National Security Council
- William Burns, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency & Lisa Carty, U.S. Representative to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations
- Ángel Cabrera & Beth Cabrera
- David Calhoun & Barbara Calhoun
- Anthony Capuano
- Manesh Chandwani & Alpana Patel
- Jagtar Chaudhry
- Kenneth Chenault & Kathryn Chenault
- Tarun Chhabra, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Technology and National Security, National Security Council & Aliza Hapgood Waters
- Maria Grazia Chiuri & Karishma Swali
- Rohit Chopra, Director of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau & Karen Brudvig
- Michael Cohen & Daralyn Samuels
- Tim Cook & Lisa Jackson
- Jim Crown & Paula Crown
- Larry Culp & Wendy Culp
- Stephanie Cutter & Kellie Meiman Hock
- Ashraf Mansur Dahod & Shamim Ashraf Dahod
- Ronak Desai & Bansari Shah
- Darshan Dhaliwal & Debra Dhaliwal
- Gary Dickerson & Connie Dickerson
- Jen O’Malley Dillon, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff & Patrick Dillon
- Michael C. Donilon, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the President & Patricia Donilon
- Mark Douglas & Madeleine Douglas
- Ajit Doval, National Security Advisor of the Republic of India
- Jose W. Fernandez, Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment, U.S. Department of State & Andrea Gabor
- Jon Finer, Assistant to the President and Principal Deputy National Security Advisor
- Leonard Forsman & Jana Rice
- Jane Fraser & Alberto Piedra
- Adena Friedman & Mike Friedman
- Thomas L. Friedman & Ann B. Friedman
- Michael Froman, President of the Council of Foreign Relations & Nancy Goodman
- Eric Garcetti, Ambassador of the United States to the Republic of India & Sean Burton
- Merrick Garland, Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice & Lynn Rosenman Garland
- Rufus Gifford, Chief of Protocol of the United States
- Kirsten Gillibrand, U.S. Senator & Jonathan Gillibrand
- Anand Giridharadas
- Philip Gordon, Assistant to the President and National Security Advisor to the Vice President & Rachel Gordon
- Sanjay Govil & Vidya Govil
- Jennifer M. Granholm, Secretary of Energy, U.S. Department of Energy & Karen Elizabeth Skelton
- Palash Gupta & Khushi Gupta
- Vanita Gupta, Associate Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice & Rajiv Gupta
- Geeta Rao Gupta, Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, U.S. Department of State & Arvind Gupta
- Rahul Gupta, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy & Seema Gupta
- Isabella Guzman, Administrator of the Small Business Administration & Javier Guzman
- Avril Haines, Director of National Intelligence & David Davighi
- Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States & Douglas Emhoff
- Roger Hochschild & Stephanie Hochschild
- Kate Hoit & Julia Tivald
- David Ignatius & Eve Ignatius
- Frank Islam & Debbie Driesman
- Irwin Jacobs & Sara Jacobs, U.S. Representative
- Anurag Jain
- Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of the Republic of India
- Pramila Jayapal, U.S. Representative & Steven Williamson
- Karine Jean-Pierre, Assistant to the President and Press Secretary
- Jo Ann Jenkins & Francis Jenkins
- Hiren Joshi, Officer on Special Duty, Republic of India
- Nikhil Kamath
- Vrinda Kapoor
- Vimal Kapur
- Alfred F. Kelly, Jr. & Margaret P. Kelly
- Maxwell Taylor Kennedy & Vicki S. Kennedy
- Max Kennedy
- Neeraj Khemlani & Heather Cabot Khemlani
- Ro Khanna, U.S. Representative & Ritu Khanna
- Suresh Khator & Renu Khator
- Martin Luther King III & Arndrea Waters King
- Billie Jean King & Ilana Kloss
- Jennifer Klein, Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Gender Policy Council & Zachary Stern
- Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Senator & John Bessler
- Edward Knight & Amy Shepard Knight
- Rohini Kosoglu & Ozkan Kosoglu
- Arvind Krishna & Tarini Krishna
- Raja Krishnamoorthi, U.S. Representative & Priya Krishnamoorthi
- Maria Teresa Kumar & Raj Udiaver Kumar
- Vivek Kumar, Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of the Republic of India
- Vinay Mohan Kwatra, Foreign Secretary of the Republic of India
- Ben LaBolt, Assistant to the President and Director of Communications
- Mitchell Landrieu, Senior Advisor and Infrastructure Implementation Coordinator & Emily Landrieu
- Dame Donna Langley DBE & Ramin Shamshiri
- Eileen Laubacher, Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for South Asia, National Security Council & Christopher Laubacher
- Ralph Lauren & Ricky Lauren
- Donald Lu, Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, U.S. Department of State & Ariel Ahart
- Anand Mahindra
- Joseph Manchin, U.S. Senator & Gayle Manchin
- Will Marshall & Robbie Schingler
- Christina Mather & Patricia Moynihan
- Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Homeland Security & Tanya Mayorkas
- Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives & Emily Norris McCarthy
- Doug McMillon & Shelley McMillon
- Gregory Meeks, U.S. Representative & Simone Meeks
- Sanjay Mehrotra & Sangeeta Mehrotra
- Robert Menendez, U.S. Senator & Nadine Menendez
- Michael Miebach
- Aruna K. Miller, Lieutenant Governor of Maryland & David Miller
- Deepak Mittal, Joint Secretary to the Prime Minister of the Republic of India
- Jon Moeller & Lisa Sauer
- John Morgan & Matt Morgan
- Denis Mukwege & Madeleine Kaboyi
- James Murdoch & Kathryn Murdoch
- Vivek Murthy, U.S. Surgeon General & Alice Chen
- Sam Myers & Vicki Myers
- Satya Nadella & Anu Nadella
- Shekar Narasimhan & Charu Narasimhan
- Shantanu Narayen & Reni Narayen
- Bill Nelson, Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration & Grace Nelson
- Indra Nooyi & Raj Nooyi
- Victoria Nuland, Under Secretary for Political Affairs, U.S. Department of State & Drew Nuland
- Sethuraman Panchanathan, Director of the U.S. National Science Foundation
- Maulik Pancholy & Ryan Corvaia
- Deven Parekh & Monika Parekh
- Tarini Parti & Preeti Parti
- Milan Patel & Vinod Patel
- Sameer Patel & Shannon Patel
- Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Emerita of the U.S. House of Representatives & Paul Pelosi
- Charles E. Phillips & Karen C. Phillips
- Jake Phillips, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Counsel to the President and Legal Advisor to the National Security Council & Sheila Jaya Kadagathur
- Sundar Pichai & Anjali Pichai
- John Podesta, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor to the President for Clean Energy & Mae Podesta
- Robert Pohlad & Rebecca Pohlad
- Arati Prabhakar, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy & Patrick Windham
- Aftab Pureval, Mayor of Cincinnati & Whitney Whitis
- Michael J. Pyle, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs, National Security Council & Chloe F. Schama
- Natalie Quillian, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff & Ryan Quillian
- James Quincey
- Gautam Raghavan, Assistant to the President and Director of Presidential Personnel & Andrew Masloski
- Gina Raimondo, Secretary of Commerce, U.S. Department of Commerce & Andy Moffit
- Deepak Raj & Neera Raj
- Sanjay Ramabhadran & Vidya Iyer
- Sripriya Ranganathan, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India
- M.R. Rangaswami & Krisanthy Desby
- Vani Sarraju Rao, Additional Secretary, Americas, Republic of India
- Vinay Reddy, Assistant to the President and Director of Speechwriting & Neelima Reddy
- Bruce Reed, Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff & Bonnie Lepard
- Michael Regan, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Punit Renjen & Heather Renjen
- Steve Ricchetti, Assistant to the President and Counselor to the President & Amy Ricchetti
- Curtis Ried, Deputy Assistant to the President and National Security Council Chief of Staff and Executive Secretary & Patsy Ried
- Chuck Robbins & Paige Robbins
- Tim Roemer & Sally Roemer
- Christopher Rothko & Lori Cohen
- Jeanne Ruesch & Fr. Kevin O’Brien, S.J.
- Jennifer Rumsey & Jim Rumsey
- Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Ambassador of the Republic of India to the United States
- Reshma Saujani & Mike Saujani
- Steve Scalise, U.S. Representative
- Michael Schrum & Maya Rao
- Charles E. Schumer, U.S. Senator & Elizabeth Weiland
- Sudhir Sekhsaria
- Peter Selfridge
- Smita N. Shah & Maarten de Jeu
- Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Advisor and Deputy National Security Advisor & Jeffrey Randall
- Jay Shetty & Richard Slavin
- Madhu Shrivastava & Sulochana Shrivastava
- M. Night Shyamalan & Bhavna Shyamalan
- Nat Simons & Laura Baxter-Simons
- Shamina Singh & Simi Singh Juneja
- Rajesh Singh, Secretary, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade of the Republic of India
- Gwendolyn Sontheim & Cary Fowler, U.S. Special Envoy for Global Food Security, U.S. Department of State
- Aaron Sosnick & Paige Perrone
- Gene Sperling, White House American Rescue Plan Coordinator and Senior Advisor to the President & Miles French
- Sri Srinivasan, Chief Judge, U.S. Court of Appeals & Chitra Wadhwani
- Lisa Su & Daniel Lin
- Rajesh Subramaniam & Gina Adams
- Jake Sullivan, Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs & Maggie Goodlander
- Ellen Susman & Whitney Gordon
- Katherine Tai, U.S. Trade Representative & Robert Skidmore
- Jim Taiclet & Carol Taiclet
- Neera Tanden, Assistant to the President and Domestic Policy Advisor & Alina Edwards
- Hemant Taneja
- Louisa Terrell, Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Legislative Affairs & Seema Nanda, U.S. Solicitor of Labor, U.S. Department of Labor
- Nidhi Tewari, Deputy Secretary, Republic of India
- Shri Thanedar, U.S. Representative & Shashi Thanedar
- Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Representative of the United States to the United Nations & Lafayette Greenfield
- Mini Timmaraju & Ken Scudder
- Annie Tomasini, Assistant to the President and Director of Oval Office Operations
- Abeezar Tyebji & Paulomi Tyebji
- Maju Varghese & Julie Varghese
- Abraham Verghese & Cari Costanzo
- Richard Verma, Deputy Secretary for Management and Resources, U.S. Department of State & Melineh Verma
- Aseem Vohra, Deputy Chief of Protocol of the Republic of India
- Lorraine Voles, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the Vice President & A.J. Smith
- Sunil Wadhwani & Nita Wadhwani
- Tim Walz, Governor of Minnesota & Gwen Walz
- Mark Warner, U.S. Senator & Lisa Collis
- Casey Wasserman & Jenny Chandler
- Anne Wojcicki & Esther Wojcicki
- Shalanda Young, Director of the Office of Management and Budget & Loyce Young-Smith
- Ali Zaidi, Assistant to the President and National Climate Advisor & Candace Vahlsing
- Uzra Zeya, Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, U.S. Department of State & Thomas Nemeth
- Jeffrey Zients, Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to the President & Jonny Zients
(with AP inputs)
