Burns up

Since Barack Obama took charge of the White House 16 months ago,Delhi and its chattering classes repeatedly voiced fears that Washington may marginalise India as it reached out to Pakistan and China in pursuit of its regional and global interests respectively. A day before the first strategic dialogue between the Obama administration and the UPA government began in Washington,the US Under Secretary of State,William Burns,addressed these concerns head on. In a remarkable speech on Tuesday,Burns declared that there is no question of the US siding with Pakistan in its disputes with India on either Kashmir or Afghanistan. He emphasised that the Obama administration will continue to press Islamabad to take action against violent extremist organisations like the Lashkar-e-Toiba that threaten both America and India. Dismissing the notion that Washington is seeking to establish a condominium over Asia and the world with Beijing,the much talked G-2,Burns welcomed Indias expanding role in East Asia and the Pacific.

Above all,Burns reaffirmed an important American premise underlying the Bush administrations policy towards India that Washington is deeply committed to Indias rise as a global power. Many in Delhi had convinced themselves that Obama had no time for this proposition which was the intellectual basis for the transformation of American relations with India during the Bush years. To make sure that India gets the message,Obama is expected to break protocol and speak at a State Department reception on Thursday for the external affairs minister S.M. Krishna who is leading the Indian delegation to the strategic dialogue.

Having got all the reassurances it sought from from Washington,Delhi will no longer be able to blame Obama and his advisers for the lack of vigour in bilateral relations. Despite risking its political fortunes in pushing for the nuclear deal with the US in the first term and returning to power amidst ideological attacks on its foreign policy from the left and the right,the UPA government has been strangely passive about engaging Washington in the second term.

As Obama extends his hand,Delhi must grasp the opportunity to elevate Indias American connection to a higher level. If Delhi can shed its defensiveness,it can make the presidents visit to India in November a big success.