US Secy of State Marco Rubio likely to visit city in May end

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is likely to visit Kolkata during his India tour later this month, according to reports emerging from American media and diplomatic circles.

Though his itinerary is expected to remain largely Delhi-centric, sources indicate that a brief stop in Kolkata is also under consideration, US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor added fuel to the speculation when he wrote on X: “Looking forward to welcoming my good friend Secretary Rubio to India! The United States deeply values our growing partnership with India, and we are excited to build even stronger ties that will benefit both our nations and the world.”

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Officials attached to the US diplomatic establishment in Kolkata have also hinted at the possibility of Rubio’s visit, although no formal announcement has yet been made by the American Embassy. Sources indicate that Rubio will be in India on 24, 25 and 26 May.

Apart from bilateral meetings with Indian leaders in New Delhi, he is also expected to attend the Quad foreign ministers’ meeting involving India, the United States, Japan and Australia. Rubio’s possible Kolkata stopover has acquired political and symbolic significance of its own.

The last time a serving US Secretary of State visited Kolkata was in November 2012, when Hillary Clinton came to the city during the early phase of Mamata Banerjee’s tenure as Chief Minister.

Clinton had then led a large delegation and held an hour-long meeting with Banerjee at Writers’ Buildings. Officially, discussions had centred on the pending Teesta agreement between India and Bangladesh, foreign direct investment and other bilateral issues.

Since Clinton’s Kolkata visit, no major American dignitary of comparable stature has travelled to West Bengal. Kolkata remained outside that diplomatic circuit. Political observers now argue that Rubio’s likely Kolkata visit could signal a renewed national and international relevance for West Bengal under the newly sworn-in government led by Suvendu Adhikari. Many analysts also trace Kolkata’s diplomatic marginalisation to the turbulence of the late 1960s and the subsequent Left Front era. In November 1968, former US Defence Secretary and World Bank chief Robert McNamara faced massive Left-led protests during his Kolkata visit over America’s role in the Vietnam War, eventually forcing him to leave the city by helicopter.