U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday, September 24, 2021 pleasantly spoke about his possible India connection during his first meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi , recalling a story about a man with the Biden surname writing to him when he was first elected as a Senator in 1972.
Recalling the incident when he was in Mumbai as the US vice president in 2013, Mr. Biden said that he was asked about if he has any relatives in India .
"I said I'm not sure but when I was elected as a 29-year-old kid in 1972, before I was sworn in, I got a letter from a person named Biden, last name, from Mumbai. I was never able to follow up," he said.
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He said that the next morning, the press told him that there were five Bidens living in India.
Elaborating more on this, Mr. Biden jokingly said, "there was a Captain George Biden in the East India tea company. That is hard for an Irish person to admit. I shouldn't be so casual. I hope you are able to understand the humour. The end result was that he apparently stayed and married an Indian woman."
"I have never been able to track it down so the whole purpose of this meeting is to help me figure it out," Mr. Biden said, triggering laughter among those present in the meeting room, including Prime Minister Modi.
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Prime Minister Modi replied in affirmative. “Was I related?” the president asked when Mr. Modi informed him that he has brought along with him a set of documents from the investigations he did on the Bidens in India. “Yes,” Mr. Modi told Mr. Biden.
“Mr President, you have talked today and spoken in detail about the Biden surname in India. In fact you had mentioned that to me earlier too. Well, after you mentioned that to me, I looked for documents,” he said.
“Today I have brought along a set of documents, maybe we'll be able to take this matter market forward, and maybe those documents could be of use to you,” Mr. Modi said.