Obama reaches out to outgoing Indian PM

President Obama spoke with outgoing Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday to thank him for his time in office.

In a statement, the White House said that Obama called “to express his gratitude for Dr. Singh’s tenure as Prime Minister and his critical role in transforming and deepening the U.S.-India strategic partnership and our cooperation on global challenges. 

{mosads}“The President conveyed his appreciation for Dr. Singh’s friendship, noting that he looked forward to further expanding the strong relationship between the United States and India with Prime Minister-Elect Narendra Modi,” the White House added.

Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party this week won a landslide victory in the world’s largest ever election, emerging with 282 of the parliament’s 543 seats. The election unseated Singh’s National Congress party, which had been in control for much of the last 60 years.

Singh oversaw rapid economic growth in India during his tenure, but in recent years the Indian public has become concerned about corruption and slowing economic expansion.

Modi has been blamed for lax management during bloody riots in his home state in 2002, which left more than 1,000 people dead, many of them Muslim.

The American government had denied Modi a visa for years after the incident, but his rise to prominence seems to have settled those concerns. On Friday, Obama called Modi and invited him to Washington “at a mutually agreeable time to further strengthen our bilateral relationship.”