When Biden spoke of distant relatives living in Mumbai
Mumbai: When US President-elect Joe Biden was in India's financial capital in 2013, he had told an audience that his distant relatives live in Mumbai.
Biden reiterated his claim two years later at an event in Washington, saying there are five Bidens living in Mumbai.
With the 77-year-old Democrat set to take oath as the 46th US President in just over two months, nobody in Mumbai has so far turned up to claim that he is Biden's relative.
Decades after he received a letter from someone by the last name of Biden from Mumbai, soon after becoming a senator, Biden learned that his "great, great, great, great, great grandfather" had worked in the East India Company.
"There are five Bidens in Mumbai, India," Biden, then Vice President, told a Washington audience in 2015 at an event organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of India-US civil nuclear deal.
In 2013, when Biden travelled to Mumbai on his maiden vice presidential trip to India, he spoke about this letter he received when he became the senator for the first time several decades ago.
In his address to the Bombay Stock Exchange on July 24, 2013, Biden narrated his story of the 'Biden from Mumbai'.
"It's an honour to be back in India and to be here in Mumbai.
Off script for a second here, I was reminded I was elected to the United States Senate when I was a 29-year-old kid back in 1972, and one of the first letters I received and I regret I never followed up on it.
"Maybe, some genealogist in audience can follow up for me, but I received a letter from a gentleman named Biden - Biden, my name - from Mumbai, asserting that we were related," Biden had told the Mumbai audience seven years ago.
In his 2015 speech in Washington, Biden had claimed that his "great, great, great, great, great grandfather" George Biden was a Captain in the East India Trading company and after retirement, decided to settle in India and married an Indian woman.
Biden had also said someone provided him with the details including the phone numbers of the Bidens in Mumbai. He had informed the audience that he was yet to call his Mumbai kin but was planning to do so.
It is not clear if Biden did manage to contact them as the five Bidens he spoke of have not 'surfaced' yet.
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PM Modi meets Dutch royals in Netherlands, discusses cooperation in technology, innovation
The Hague (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday met King of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima at the Royal Palace and discussed close cooperation in digital technology, innovation, fintech and blue economy.
Modi arrived in the Netherlands on Friday - after a brief stopover in the UAE - on the second leg of his five-nation tour that also includes Sweden, Norway and Italy.
"Met His Majesty King Willem-Alexander and Her Majesty Queen Máxima at the Royal Palace. It was wonderful exchanging perspectives on boosting India-Netherlands friendship across key sectors like technology, innovation, sustainable growth, commerce and water resources," PM Modi posted on X after the meeting.
Modi said that India and the Netherlands are "connected by shared interests and a shared belief in building a future-ready planet."
"They discussed the growing partnership between India and the Netherlands," the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal posted on X.
"Both sides noted the close cooperation in the areas of sustainability, climate action, digital technology, innovation, fintech and blue economy," he added.
The two sides also expressed commitment towards further strengthening India–Netherlands relations.
Earlier in the day, Modi addressed a gathering of the Indian diaspora in The Hague where he called India a “land of opportunities” undergoing an “unprecedented transformation”.
The PM's visit to the European nation from May 15 to 17 is his second trip to the country after his 2017 visit and comes at what officials described as an "important juncture" in India-Netherlands ties.
India and the Netherlands have significantly expanded cooperation in recent years beyond traditional sectors such as trade, investment and the priority areas of water, agriculture and health.
The partnership has grown in strategic sectors, including technology, innovation, defence, security, semiconductors, renewable energy, education and the maritime domain, the MEA said.
The Netherlands is one of India’s largest trade destinations in Europe, with bilateral trade valued at USD 27.8 billion in 2024-25. It is also India’s fourth-largest investor, with cumulative foreign direct investment amounting to USD 55.6 billion, officials said.
People-to-people ties remain a key pillar of the bilateral relationship.
Later on Saturday, Modi is scheduled to meet his Dutch counterpart Rob Jetten.
