India-US relations under President Barack Obama
It comes as a big surprise to most that Americans elected Barack Obama as their next President and that is mainly because he is half-black. But thanks to the disgusting policies of the Bush administration and Obama’s campaign which involved a lot of grassroots-level operations, the US has turned a page in history by electing an ethnic minority as their first man.
How is Obama’s presidency going to affect US relations with India? Firstly, it was the Democrat administration of Clinton that catapulted relations with India into a strategic partnership. The Republican administration of Bush continued on that foundation with the breakthrough civil nuclear deal that was signed recently. And since India, as one of the major emerging economies, can no longer be ignored, Obama will in all likelihood build on the strategic partnership.
Kashmir
But in an interview with Time magazine, Obama said that one of his “critical” foreign policy matters will be to help India and Pakistan resolve the Kashmir issue. Obama also plans to employ Bill Clinton as a special envoy in this matter. Kashmir has for decades remained a bilateral issue between India and Pakistan and the former is adamantly resistant to outside interference. This is a good decision in my opinion. India’s external affairs minister, Pranab Mukherjee, has said yesterday that the dialogue and resolution of the matter will remain a bilateral issue and has preempted Obama’s seemingly arrogant stance to interfere. A campaign aide of Obama has today made clear that much has been read into what Obama said in the interview and that Kashmir will be considered a bilateral issue. But that there will be pressure and help to resolve the matter from the US. Unsolicited! On the other hand, Kashmir remains an unresolved dispute for over 60 years casting doubt on India’s and Pakistan’s abilities to resolve it by themselves.
Outsourcing
During the campaigning, Obama has promised to penalize outsourcing of jobs from the US to other countries. He wants to increase taxes for companies that outsource a lot of jobs while decreasing taxes for those that don’t. While this is likely to be met with a lot of opposition from corporate America which is what runs the country, India could be affected if the legislation passes. The Indian government has so far maintained that it will comment on the matter only if the legislation is taken up seriously by the new government in the US and not on what was said during campaigning. That is a healthy stance, but I hope that India will be prepared for if and when Obama begins to strangle US outsourcing and thereby the American competitive edge in technology and services.
The Nuclear Deal
Obama has traditionally insisted that India sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty before US helps Indian civilian nuclear facilities. On what moral ground he and other Americans demand this totally baffles me. Yet, when the matter came to the US Congress, he voted for the nuclear deal. But I guess that it could remain a touchy issue too.
Trade and the WTO
Obama wants to forge a free trade agreement with India. But the two countries have been at loggerheads at WTO meets for a few years now over the insanely high subsidies that the US government gives to agriculture. India and many other developing countries have been fighting for these subsidies by the US and EU to be reduced in order for other countries to be competitive. It is ironical how Obama wants to protect the American economy with regulation and preventing outsourcing but wants a free trade agreement with India.
So it appears that the US government will remain as selfish and quite arrogant as it has been in decades under Obama’s administration too. There may be a subtle changes in rhetoric. A half-African American man has been elected for the first time to head the USA which is probably going to be the only groundbreaking change. However, I hope that the US will continue to throw up more pleasant surprises and that I’m proved wrong by Obama.
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