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Journalism of Courage
As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived here on a four-day state visit to the United States, the stage has been set for a ‘‘successful’’ summit — by normal diplomatic standards — with President George W. Bush. Whether it will be a ‘‘memorable’’ one in the wayward history of Indo-US relations might depend on the kind of conversation that Singh and Bush strike up tomorrow morning at the White House.
There will be enough wares to show off at the end of the talks tomorrow, including a joint statement that will celebrate shared democratic values and record the intent of the two nations to build a strategic partnership. There will also be agreements — from HIV/AIDS to information technology and agriculture. But the big question remains: Can Singh and Bush elevate Indo-US relations beyond the ordinary?
Making Singh’s visit to Washington truly ‘‘historic’’, as some American officials have already begun to label it, might involve some major political judgements by the two leaders on the future of Indo-US relations.
In preparation for the talks with Bush tomorrow, Singh is having an intensive round of consultations with his advisers tonight. Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and the Indian Ambassador to the US, Ronnen Sen, have in the last couple of days been giving final touches to the agreements to be announced after Singh’s talks with Bush. External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh has also arrived here from New York.
Singh and Bush know Delhi and Washington have done more political business in the past four years than in the earlier four decades. The question of Jammu and Kashmir, once a reason for contention between the two nations, has ceased to be one, thanks to Bush’s refusal to push India on Kashmir. Interestingly, the ‘K’ word that once used to cloud any Indian Prime Minister’s visit to the US has hardly figured in the media discourse, either in Delhi or in Washington, in the past few days. The perennial Indo-US differences over Pakistan have narrowed down as the Bush Administration simultaneously improves relations with both Delhi and Islamabad and a rare peace process unfolds in the subcontinent.
In the past, Delhi constantly complained about America’s special relationship with China and the downgrading of Delhi vis-a-vis Beijing. Now the Bush Administration says it wants to construct a relationship with India that is at par or even better than the one it has had with China.
Since 1974, India and the US have bitterly argued about nuclear non-proliferation. Now they are talking about resuming cooperation in civil nuclear energy.
The two countries have certainly come a long way. But they are yet to reach that elusive political destination that allows them to cooperate on nuclear energy and non-proliferation, think together about the future stability of Pakistan and Afghanistan and construct a new balance of power in Asia and the world.
If Singh and Bush decide tomorrow to travel down that road together, the meeting might well merit the label ‘‘historic’’. Otherwise it could, like so often in the past, become yet another missed opportunity in Indo-US relations.
