Can Obama convert form into substance?
It was a singular honour for India that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was US President Barack Obama's first state guest. Singh enjoyed a special relationship with former president George W. Bush and many doubted whether this would continue with his successor.
Obama's personal gestures of goodwill, gushing about Indians, and recognition of India's nuclear status, seemed reassuring. Yet it remains to be seen whether Washington will take the steps to convert form into substance and push forward the nascent relationship between the world's oldest and biggest democracies.
Nevertheless, America is wooing India, but this is premised on India becoming a great power and an ally to counter China. American requirements were evident during Singh's dealings with the previous administration out of which this visit materialised.
Bush brought India in from the cold to a nuclear-powered fire by pushing through the Indo-US nuclear agreement. But this help came at a price: India was asked to ditch non-alignment and align itself with the US. Washington was destined to disappointment. India cannot enter into a strategic alignment because its doctrine for engaging the world arises from internal economic requirements and is premised on causing the minimum of international friction.
Singh has repeatedly said that a world of expanding opportunities means there is enough room for Asia's giants to grow and engage each other for mutual benefit.
Despite no immediate political returns, the Obama administration has promised to tie up the Bush administration's loose ends and complete the remaining details of the nuclear treaty. But it will be difficult for the Democratic administration to match the systemic changes that Bush engineered. What's more, Obama appears not to possess the resolve.
Heading India's wish list are freedoms denied by the developed world. The first is the freedom of movement. Singh noted that the US had benefited from a 'brain gain' from India but he wants to see that talent flowing seamlessly between countries instead of being hemmed in by what Indians regard as an oppressive Western visa regime. Obama, faced with racially motivated cries about Asian hordes stealing US jobs, seems unlikely to be able to change US policy to satisfy India.
Indians see restrictions on knowledge as another barrier. India must ensure that its 200 million mostly poor Muslims are not radicalised like their co-religionists in Pakistan and Afghanistan. That will require economic opportunities, which cannot be created unless India can access technology that the US jealously guards. Raising millions of people out of poverty by importing cutting-edge technology will also permit New Delhi to avoid the massive environmental cost of Western industrialisation.
Singh appreciated Washington's politesse. But partnerships demand not just form but also substance. He and India are now waiting for Obama to demonstrate the political will to convert gestures into action.
