New Delhi: United States President Donald Trump’s inability to participate as the Chief Guest at India’s Republic Day celebrations of 2019 is a ‘purely scheduling issue’, US Ambassador to India Kenneth Juster said on Thursday. Trump has declined India’s invitation to be the chief guest at Republic day parade citing “pressing engagements", including his State of The Union (SOTU) address.

When the US ambassador was quizzed whether Trump’s rejection of the invitation was because of the India’s S-400 defence deal with Russia, he said, “No, that is a purely scheduling issue. Right now there is no Speaker of the House that has even been selected. "

Congress on Tuesday had criticised the government over the rejection from Trump. It termed the rejection by US President a "diplomatic faux pas" and an "embarrassment" for the country.

A White House spokesperson however said earlier this week that though the US President felt honoured by PM Modi's invitation he was not able to participate in the event due to scheduling constraints.


Every year, India invites world leaders to attend its Republic Day celebrations. In 2015, the then US president Barack Obama had attended it as the chief guest, which was his second visit to India as the American president.

On whether India will get a waiver from the US on Chabahar amid sanctions on Iran, Juster said, "These are matters that our two governments are discussing and we are working together on that."

(inputs from  PTI)