Jill Biden and India’s Modi visit National Science Foundation

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jill Biden is taking Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on a side trip to Virginia on Wednesday, a day before his formal state visit and fancy dinner at the White House.

India’s leader was arriving from New York, where earlier Wednesday he performed backbends and corpse poses during a yoga session with a multinational crowd on the lawn of the United Nations.

President Joe Biden, who invited Modi for the state visit, has spent the past two days in California raising money for his reelection campaign and was due back in Washington later Wednesday.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) president Csaba Korosi participate in the 9th International Day of Yoga event on the north lawn at United Nations headquarters in New York City on June 21, 2023. Photo by Mike Segar/ Reuters

Despite deep differences with India over its record on human rights and its approach to Russia’s war in Ukraine, Biden nevertheless extended to Modi the administration’s third invitation for a state visit. With all the pomp and attention being paid to Modi, Biden hopes to firm up his relationship with the leader of a country the U.S. believes will be a pivotal force in Asia for decades to come.

In a warmup of sorts to Thursday, the first lady arranged a visit Wednesday to the National Science Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia, for an event highlighting workforce training programs for Modi, who leads one of the world’s largest democracies with an estimated 1.4 billion people. She typically takes the spouse of a visiting leader on an outing in the Washington area, but Modi was traveling alone.

READ MORE: Biden is ready to meet with India’s leader, looking past Modi’s human rights record and ties to Russia

Afterward, the first lady was returning to the White House to unveil the decor and menu for Thursday’s state dinner, which is being held in a temporary pavilion erected on the South Grounds of the White House. She enlisted help from a guest chef, Nina Curtis, who specializes in plant-based cooking, to work on the three dinner courses with the White House kitchen staff. Modi is a vegetarian.

Violinist Joshua Bell will entertain guests after dinner.

Jill Biden is a career community college teacher who has taken on a big role in helping her husband’s administration promote “career-connected” learning as an alternative to four years of college.

At the science foundation, the first lady and Modi will also meet students from the U.S. and India, and participate in a moderated conversation.

The presidents of France and South Korea traveled to the U.S. on official state visits in December 2022 and April of this year, respectively.