US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to begin 4-day India visit on Saturday with pitstop in Kolkata

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to arrive in India on Saturday on a four-day diplomatic tour, with Kolkata marking the first leg of his visit that carries considerable political and historical resonance.

Rubio's visit to the eastern metropolis will be the first by a US secretary of state in 14 years and comes weeks after the BJP formed the government in West Bengal following the recent assembly elections.

Rubio will become the first US secretary of state to set foot in Kolkata since Hillary Clinton visited the city in May 2012.

During that high-profile visit, Clinton met then Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the historic Writers' Buildings in a formal engagement that extended beyond an hour.

Notably, Banerjee's administration too had only recently come to power after ending the Left Front's uninterrupted 34-year rule in Bengal.

According to sources in the US Consulate, Rubio is expected to arrive in Kolkata from Sweden around 7 am and visit Mother House, the headquarters of Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa.

Rubio's India itinerary, scheduled from May 23 to 26 and also encompassing Agra, Jaipur, and New Delhi, is being viewed as diplomatically significant not merely for its timing, but also for its symbolic emphasis on Kolkata, home to one of the oldest American consular establishments in the world and the first in India.

The roots of the American diplomatic presence in Kolkata stretch back more than two centuries. On November 19, 1792, US President George Washington appointed Benjamin Joy of Newburyport as the first American Consul to Kolkata, according to records maintained by the US Embassy and Consulates in India.

Although Joy, who arrived in the city some 17 months later, was never formally recognised by the British East India Company as consul, he was permitted to remain in Kolkata as a commercial agent under British jurisdiction.

What began under uncertain circumstances ultimately evolved into a longstanding diplomatic relationship between the United States, Kolkata, and India at large.

Today, the US Consulate in Kolkata oversees American interests across 11 eastern and northeastern states, including West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura.

Political observers believe Rubio's decision to include Kolkata in his itinerary reflects the rising geopolitical and economic significance of eastern and northeastern India, particularly within the broader Indo-Pacific framework, since the visit also comes at a time when Washington is seeking to deepen strategic partnerships across the region amid mounting global uncertainty on account of the continuing conflict in West Asia.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)