Vice President Joe Biden watches as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with House Speaker Paul Ryan, center, as he arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington Wednesday before his address to a joint meeting of Congress.
Vice President Joe Biden watches as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with House Speaker Paul Ryan, center, as he arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington Wednesday before his address to a joint meeting of Congress.Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press

Modi is addressing a joint meeting of Congress. He evoked the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi in his speech. Modi said Gandhi’s nonviolence inspired King.

His speech Wednesday was a chance for Modi to burnish his standing as a trusted U.S. partner after years of being shunned in Washington over religious violence in his home state.

Modi said in his prepared remarks that there was no doubt that advancing the U.S.-India relationship would benefit both nations.