It is not often that you have rising star of the East being hosted at a state dinner by the President of the United States of America. This was no ordinary state dinner, it was the first held by President Obama and it does not go without note that it was for the leader of biggest democracy on the planet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India.
India is critical in the bigger economic and political equation in South Asia for the USA. India has been a long term non- aligned democracy long before the fall of the Berlin Wall or the invasion of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union. India has stood it’s own during the cold war and it had led a slow road to its own social, political and economic regeneration since independence from the British in 1947. An independence that saw the creation of Pakistan and what we today know as Bangladesh. What followed the independence was the loss of over 1000 000 innocent lives with displaced communities and families for generations. The human cost of this particular episode in India’s long history of invasions and occupiers legacies features the most highly and costly.
Just as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was about to have his round of meetings last Tuesday in Washington, Pakistan announced on the first anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the financial capital of India Mumbai, their intention to charge the orchestrators of the attacks. The lone surviving terrorist is about to face India’s justice system, as he was one of the gunmen that were responsible for the death of over 174 innocent people including 9 of his fellow terrorists.
Mumbai like the rest of world that has witnessed episodes of terrorist attacks in recent times, has shrugged of the attacks and has since gone on from strength to strength. The story of the head of the Taj hotel that the terrorists targeted claiming the lives of his wife and children is illustrative how individuals have rebuilt their lives since.
The old rivalries under the current administrations in both India and Pakistan have been cast aside for bi-lateral cooperation on this issue. How long this particular phase continues is anyone’s guess as Kashmir now and East Pakistan (Bangladesh) in the past has seen the two sovereign states go to war. What distinguishes the two now is the breathtaking growth in India’s economic muscle and political influence abroad. This has not gone unnoticed by equally influential and economic strong neighbour China. The two countries have also gone to war in the past and it is alleged China has helped Pakistan with nuclear weapon capability in order to equalise it’s own political interest in the area. India along with Pakistan is both nuclear powers and rapidly building their army capabilities in other areas including the use of space technology.
It was revealed at the beginning of this month that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had secretly negotiated the sale of 200 tons of gold to India. The news of the gold sale to a country that has one of the highest domestic consumption of the metal in the world has sent the price soaring to record levels. There seems to be a shift generally to gold and other commodities by largely the emerging countries like India and China away from the collapsing dollar. They are shoring up what exists in terms of their foreign currency reserves and with India and China combined there are a lot of dollars held by them to worry the USA that any irrational move by either of the countries could have further devastating impact on the USA and world economies. It is then not surprising that President Obama sought to court China and other Asian countries during his first official visit to the region.
India is not only a significant player on the emerging world stage but also a key alley for USA to court in the coming years as it tries to establish a strategic position in the area.
The state dinner also afforded the occasion with the highest security breaches of the modern times. It is becoming apparent that a couple self publicists Michaele Salahi and husband Tareq gatecrashed the dinner and met Barack Obama. This has to be on par with the country that is famous for Hollywood as is India for producing the largest number of films in the world in what is Bollywood. The recent success of films like ‘Slum Dog Millionaire’ had brought to the fore the realities that coexist in the India of today, where in a country of 1.16 billion some 1 in 4 people live below the poverty line. This gap is increasing with some serious social, political and cultural challenges for the state ahead.
The serious business of the economic turmoil is also being masked by the jockeying for position by the world emerging powers on climate change. The impending Copenhagen climate change summit is likely to agree the reductions on carbon emissions that the world experts have been demanding since the earlier meetings. India is also a key player as to how it intends to respond and this will be at the forefront of the Obama administration as it tries to charm its guests to support its interests in this and other areas of foreign policy.
It will be interesting week in Copenhagen as China has already made its position clear and as India spells out its detailed response in arguing that “India is willing to sign on to an ambitious global target for emission reduction or limiting temperature increase if it is accompanied by an equitable burden-sharing paradigm” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
What makes Copenhagen interesting after Kyoto is that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has openly stated that “climate change is becoming the pretext for pursuing protectionist policies under a green label. This would be contrary to the UNFCCC and a violation of the WTO as well. India and other developing countries will strongly resist this.”
President Obama is sure to raise the tempo at Copenhagen with promise to be seen to be shouting the loudest on this issue. The intrigued amongst the world community will be watching for India’s reaction and stand as well as for those of others like China.
The world watches as India plays its part in leading the debate on climate change. India grapples with the responsibility of ensuring the democratic juggernaut of the world does not see any of its wheels fall off due to terrorism on its home soil by foreign powers or the evolving domestic need to reach out and touch the lives of so many who live in poverty.
Semra Eren-Nijhar 