President Barack Obama asked students to ponder on his Three Questions during his interaction at St. Xavier’s College in Mumbai on 7th November 2010:
- Where do you want to see India 20 years from now?
- What kind of India-US partnership do you want to see 20 years from now?
- How each do you want to make this world a better place?
If I had the privilege of being there and asking him a question, I would have taken his second question and redirected it to him: “Mr. President, what kind of India-US partnership do you want to see, not 20 but, say, 2 years from now?”
(In 2 years his first term would be near its end and he would have embarked on his campaign trail for ensuring his 2nd term in the White House. And in his victory in 2012, a flourishing US relation with India could prove to be an important issue to stake his claim to the presidency.)
Ever since his confirmation as the president-in-waiting in November 2008, views started doing rounds in diplomatic circles in India that under Obama administration, India-US relationship may see a significant shift from the path charted by George W. Bush because he was never seen actively pursuing India during his presidential campaign. And this perception got confirmed when India was kept out of US’ crucial Af-Pak policy in spite of India been actively engaged in Afghanistan and is an important regional power in South Asia.
Also, in spite of accepting the fact that Pakistan is the center for export of terror to India and rest of the world including America, the US continues to pursue this subject pretty softly with our unruly neighbor. Huge military aids are being given to Pakistan with an excuse of making it stable economically and politically. Even if one has to believe that Pakistan government has no control over the so-called non-state actors working as perpetrators of terror from its soil, still America could hold the Pakistani government responsible and force them to act for eradicating extremism. It could be done by linking aid with results expected on proliferation of terror.
Moreover, even when the US realizes that India has indeed “risen” as an economic power and in a globalized world movement of jobs across borders is inevitable, still the US loses no opportunity to bash companies having bases outside America – especially in India. Barack Obama has been seen towing this “protectionist” line in order to suit his political purposes for appeasing people affected due to continuing economic recession.
In mutual benefits of the US and India, Barack Obama has to take India together in its economic and political endeavors. Barack Obama will not succeed in wooing Indian business establishments with his anti-outsourcing stance.
In addition, in spite of Barack Obama acknowledging that the global order has changed indeed, he doesn’t seem to be ready to support India’s eligibility for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council which would rightly reflect today’s geopolitical realities and would balance power equations in the colossal body.
Barack Obama has endorsed India’s importance as a strategic “partner” – graduating from oft stated ‘ally’ status for India – because of both being democracies – oldest and the largest – but somehow we are yet to see him come closer to India in real terms; the relationship feels to be cold in spite of President Obama sharing a warm personal rapport with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
To be honest I had great expectations from him for India when he became the 44th President of the United States of America. Because, I always felt – and still do strongly – that he was not a mere politician; he was a genuine leader and had the potential to get into the league of great leaders and impact the world history like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. And, therefore, he had mental capabilities of taking tough and honest decisions and bringing about “the Change we can believe in”.
I am disappointed – that is not the case. I have hopes and that is not to term it as “audacity of hope”!
I completely understand President Barack Obama’s predicament. His country is not the strongest in the world anymore. There is a swift transition towards a ‘Post American World’. America is losing its might - mostly on economic front. On top of that, the US has to bear huge burdens of two unnecessary wars, Iraq and Afghanistan. And none of these critical states are of his making. He is the unfortunate inheritor of the unprecedented mess and a volatile economic environment left behind by his predecessor. And he has been at the helm of affairs for less than two years only. The time available with him so far has been grossly inadequate to bring about the desired turnaround. He has delivered on most of his presidential campaign promises except for being able to reverse huge jobs loss which in a capitalist and a free market is not under government’s control. He could arrest the slide and stabilize the economy but jobs creation will take some more time. His “shellacking” in the recent mid-term elections was primarily in response to his administration’s failure to stop continued job losses in US.
I also understand that India of today knows its place in the world and also knows too well that its fast emergence on economic front has made it vulnerable to escalating harm by external evil forces mostly motivated by religious fundamentalism. India of today could be immensely confident about its future but its concerns cannot – and should not – be ignored. A country like US has to support India in its fight against terror even if that means displeasing its so-called ally that is Pakistan which is proclaimed to be ‘strategically important’ partner for America. Then only India and the US can become ‘partners’ in real terms.
Today, President Barack Obama is on his maiden trip to India during which he primarily seeks to engage businessmen and entrepreneurs and Indian political establishment for opening trade barriers for increased economic cooperation between the two nations. The fact that he did not mention the “P” word while addressing the 26/11 victims at the Taj Hotel and then did not again bite the bait at St. Xavier’s College today, has put the Indian establishment including the Indian Media spewing venom against him. To be honest I too felt a bit disappointed but then I understood President Barack Obama’s geopolitical compulsions.
Talking about Pakistan, India has to tackle this errant neighbor itself. And we are capable of doing so. We only need a strong political will to execute this wish. We should stop taking shoulder of America to put our guns. India has to adopt a tough posture and secure its future against possible terror attacks. Why blame America for not spelling Pakistan in public on an Indian platform? Haven’t we often hidden behind diplomatic curtains? Haven’t we failed comprehensively in punishing Kasab in spite of having telling evidences against him in name of a democratic judiciary? Haven’t we too changed our track often and have returned to the talking tables repeatedly all for diplomacy and keeping the so-called enemy engaged? Haven’t we kept our diplomatic relations and support tacit even with dictatorial regimes like Iran just because it felt to be suiting our interests? Then why are we so critical of President Barack Obama’s diplomatic stance for Pakistan?
We all know America’s strategic relationship and its need for a stable Pakistan. (A stable Pakistan is in India’s interest too. Otherwise, we could see an ambitious China move in the vacated space. And we know who is a lesser evil.)
In fact an immensely important visit of the US’ President which could have been used for forging a much deeper mutually beneficial economic-political relationship between the two democracies of the world, it got completely hijacked by a myopic vision clouded by issue of Pakistan’s sponsorship of terror. We have been living with this menace for more than six decades now. And India has always been aware of America’s stance on this issue. Still in order to be a real economic and political power we need the United States of America. Howsoever big we might think about ourselves on the global stage, and howsoever beleaguered the US may seem currently, let us not forget the fact that India is still a miniscule economy in front of the giants like China, Germany, Japan and the US. India needs US’ markets perhaps more than they need ours. Whatever we can offer them in terms of market pie and jobs therefore, if the US pursued China a bit better they could easily garner that desired shares. All talks about India’s economic prowess needs to be taken in right perspective. Today’s atmosphere is more conducive than ever before to further strengthen our relationship with the US on equal terms. A strengthened America is in every body’s interest.
Nevertheless, I completely believe that in spite of all its so-called geopolitical-economic compulsions, the US can still hold Pakistan accountable for terror emanating from within its boundaries. Because, as we all know, Terrorism knows no boundaries – it is “problems without passports” (to use Kofi Annan’s / Shashi Tharoor’s words). And, to agree with Times Now’s point of view that America should link its aids to Pakistan to its action on containing terror in Pakistan if it wants to have a trustful long lasting relationship with India.
Frankly speaking, Indian Media’s pouncing on Barack Obama for avoiding naming Pakistan in his speeches on related subjects within hours of his landing in Bombay was uncalled for and it looked grossly unfair. Here was the President of the United States of America in India on his maiden visit but that just didn’t seem to have any positive effect on our Media. The mood was belligerent in television studios to say the least! (NDTV 24x7 sounded more balanced than CNN-IBN and Times Now though.)
But tossing the coin over and we could see that today’s India was not afraid of speaking its mind out even if it meant speaking tough – even to the US - to protect our interests. And certainly the Indian Media was at its confident – toughest - best! Not that they had not given due importance to Barack Obama’s visit. Otherwise we wouldn’t have seen them sitting throughout the day for 12 hours at a stretch – that was Arnab Goswami! – in their studios and covering the events in details and indulging into great deal of discussions on every conceivable point. I wonder from where they managed inexhaustible source of energy!
Tomorrow is President Obama’s third and the last day in India before he embarks on the second leg of his Asian tour to Indonesia. Wish I could listen to him speak to our Parliamentarians majority of whom are not even worthy of such an opportunity and privilege! But such are the fallacies of democracy …
Great to have you here in India, Mr. President! The First Lady too has made a fan base! Hope to see you both back with Malia, Sasha and Bo!
And, yes, do you feel I have been able to answer you satisfactorily? I know it is a pretty long answer but then certain questions cannot be answered in brief. Thanks for your patience, Mr. President J (Wish he reads these lines. Now, this is “audacity of hope”, for sure J)
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