When US Secretary of State Marco Rubio chose to begin his India visit not in New Delhi but in Kolkata, the decision initially appeared deeply personal; some could even call it “spiritual”. After all, Rubio travelled directly to the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity to pray at the tomb of Mother Teresa before heading to the capital for talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior Indian officials.

Undoubtedly, both India’s diplomatic establishment and the sisters of the order were surprised by his choice of the stopover. However, everyone knows that in international politics, symbolism is rarely accidental. This realisation had virtually everyone trying to read the tea leaves to make sense of the visit, which comes soon after the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping earlier this month.

At one level, the visit reflected Rubio’s own Catholic faith. Within the contemporary Republican ecosystem shaped by President Donald Trump and the broader MAGA movement, religious identity has become an increasingly potent political language. Mother Teresa remains not merely a saintly figure associated with Kolkata but a globally recognised Catholic icon.

Images of Rubio paying respects at her tomb resonate strongly with conservative Christian constituencies in the United States, reinforcing a political persona rooted in faith, morality, and civilisational symbolism. And for an ambitious politician eyeing the top chair in the White House, cultivating the MAGA and Catholic constituencies is important.

Nevertheless, reducing the Kolkata visit to a mere domestic political theatre would miss its larger strategic........

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