US sings India-friendly tune

Inderfurth, who is the Assistant Secretary for South Asia in the State Department, acknowledged that the issues were difficult to resolve, there were plenty of wrinkles yet to ironed out, and it could be a long grind. But he seemed to suggest that once the hump was crossed, “the horizons are boundless.”

“We canrealistically target increases in trade and investment over the next 10-20 years to reach levels that we enjoy with China. We can build upon the extraordinary, but little known record of cooperative science between our two nations,” he said, adding he could easily identify dozens of cooperative activities and actions between the two countries “all of which we hope will define our new partnership for the 21st century.”

Inderfurth’s speech was clearly aimed at setting the tone for the forthcoming eighth round of talks between the two countries in New Delhi next week. The previous seven rounds have yielded little except to narrow some of the differences and create a more congenial atmosphere for continued dialogue.

Inderfurth’s comments held much promise, or carrots as some would see it. But other US officials like Strobe Talbott who have spoken in recent times have stuck to the familiar line of what India must do — sign the CTBT, not test or deploy missiles etc — to earn American appreciation. Indiancircles believe they are playing good cop-bad cop.

But in remarks that recalled the US line on India before the nuclear tests, Inderfurth restated Washington’s views about according primacy to India as the region’s largest and most influential country, while not seeking to exclude others. “The United States recognises that India is the largest, strongest, and indeed the most dominant player in the sub-continent, and as such it commands a corresponding level of thought and care,” he said.

Inderfurth also outlined a new paradigm for the region based on energy supply and demand: potential energy surpluses in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and Central Asia, alongside enormous deficits in India were like pieces of a puzzle. “Economic growth, and the confidence, creativity, and entrepreneurship that it breeds, can help move those pieces together,” he said. A growth rate of 8-9 per cent per annum for India was “not outside the realm of possibility,” he said, given the right conditions and atmosphere.

Theofficial also made some blunt remarks about the political situation in the region, warning that when extremists, or factions, or sectarian based parties are able to exert undue influence on a government or shape a national or even a local debate, “the results can be disastrous.” Clubbing the sporadic attack on Christians in Gujarat over the past few weeks with the years-long sectarian killing in Karachi, Inderfurth said many observers are closely watching the emergence of caste and religion based parties in India and the Islamisation drive in Pakistan and wondering if such events are somehow connected.

In remarks that some Indian officials saw as gratuitous, Inderfurth said that while it is not for the US to dictate the interaction between religion and politics in any other system than its own, “we trust that today’s and tomorrow’s leaders in South Asia share our belief that democracy means as much about protecting the rights of even the smallest of minorities as serving the will of the majority.”

Theofficial also made an elegant exposition of the difficulties US faced in dealing with democratic India, a question that has nettled many Indian analysts. If the US held up only democracy as a principle basis for its ties with India, then it risked glossing over any perceived transgressions (by India) or pursuing policies that might conflict with other US interests. If it did not take into consideration India’s democratic nature, then there was a risk of paying only lip service to democracy and trying to force India into positions for which there is no national consensus.

“Our task then is to strike a balance… we need to remind ourselves that India’s government is every bit as popularly elected and self-respecting as ours, even as we try to influence its behavior and shape its perspective on events and matters of policy. As our relationship matures, our interaction with India will be less prone to misunderstandings and assume a proper equilibrium,” Inderfurth said.