When Marco Rubio was confirmed as US Secretary of State last year, fireworks of optimism went off in New Delhi. Given his years as a senator championing a pro-India, staunchly anti-China posture, policymakers anticipated an unprecedented alignment. However, as Rubio arrives in India on Saturday for a four-day visit spanning Kolkata, Agra, Jaipur and New Delhi, he enters a relationship strained by transactional politics, structural deadlock and mounting strategic unease over Washington’s recent..