Indra’s Drishtikona (Viewpoint)

Welcome! President Bush Comes to India

Posted : February 26, 2006 at 7:38 pm [IST]

Bush will be in India on the first of March 2006. It is a visit by the head of the only Superpower of the world that manipulated to eliminate the competition smartly, with which India had allied. India couldn’t develop an amicable relationship with US, though that would have been more logical with the age-old relationship with UK.

Credit must go to Atalji and Clinton and more to their team to initiate the relationship transformation for more closeness. Manmohan Singh has moved on the same track with more confidence. And except for leftists, the whole country is for a better relation with US. I feel one factor behind this urge is the presence of huge lot of professionals in US contributing to the economy of US. They have served as image or brand builders as well as pressure groups too.

Should the success of the forthcoming visit be judged only by some agreements such as one on sharing of nuclear technology to solve our energy problems? I feel that will be a very shortsighted goal. The visit should stress on overall participation of the two nations in educational and commercial activities of each other with no constraints. India can’t be an aggressor, so US must not unnecessarily treat India as it treats China.

Some very small little steps are essentials from US side that annoy Indian intelligentia time and again. US must find a way out to avoid incidence like the visa issue of Dr. Mehta that is humiliating for any scientist of his status. US must also look into its naturalization processes of huge number of technocrats of Indian origin with higher educational qualifications from US universities working for years with reputed companies.

How important India has become is clear from the Feb 23rd 2006 issue of The Economist. With two articles-’A Passage to India: The pitfalls awaiting George Bush in the subcontinent’ and ‘The great Indian hope trick‘.

One of these articles talks of the attractions of India for US, that are very pertinent:

It is about its stability, democracy, and demography that make India better than China for US.

Nevertheless, in the long term, India has two great attractions.

One is stability. India has proven mechanisms for the peaceful transfer of power and the ability to withstand terrible internal conflicts-in Kashmir and the North-East, for example-without danger to its integrity. China’s eventual transition to democracy could be traumatic.

Another attraction is demography. China’s one-child policy ensures that it will grow old before it gets rich: a generation of only children may suddenly find themselves struggling to support the parents who once pampered them. India will remain younger and more dynamic well into the middle of the 21st century.

For many reasons, a close partnership between India and America seems both desirable and inevitable.”

The varying views on the negotiation over the nuclear issue have revealed how difficult it will be to achieve, and the mood of intellectual class of India. Indians scientists have done remarkable jobs under the odd conditions of all sorts of sanctions from the technologically developed nations. Their concerns are to be given due and respectful weightage.

US must appreciate India’s independent views on external affairs that may be different with US particularly in dealing with Islamic countries. And that is the strength of India. US must not break its negotiation with India on these trivial issues.

It will be prudent to for America to realize that America needs it more than the other way round. India is important today. So, as Fareed Zakaria says, ‘ The world - and particularly the United States - is courting India as it never has before.’ US must appreciate this sleeping giant that is waking up. Fareed in forthcoming Newsweek’s US edition’s cover story futher looks at India emerging as different from other economies.

“What is happening today is the birth of India as an independent society -boisterous, colorful, tacky, free-spending, vibrant, and above all open. India is diverging from its past but also from most other countries in Asia. It is not a quiet, controlled quasi-authoritarian country that is slowly opening up according to plans. It is a messy, noisy democracy that has finally empowered its people economically. In this respect India, one of the poorest countries in the world, looks strikingly similar to the world’s wealthiest country, the United States of America. In both places, society has triumphed over the state.”

- Indra

Category: Government Policy/Administration |