Nov 11, 2010
I am talking about Barack Obama and his much-hyped India visit. It seems to me that he did not come as a president of United States but as a CEO of US Inc. As much as all of us expected that he, standing in front of the Taj Mahal Hotel precinct would point blank blast at the Pakistan sponsored terrorism, nothing of that sort happened.
In a way he did disappoint the 26/11 survivors who had gathered there in large numbers. But we cannot blame him for that and we can’t be short sighted either. Besides being a faithful husband of Michelle and a loving father of two tiny kids, he also happens to be the president of an important country. (I would not call him the world’s most powerful person anymore as that place ironically goes to the Chinese premier, Hu Jintao) Also, I doubt very much if he represents hitherto a powerful nation but my own assumption is that he was here on a job hunting spree and in search of peace of mind after receiving a heavy drubbing at the recently conducted mid term elections.
As much as we had our great expectations, Obama as a president has his own compulsions too. Many would argue that he evaded the mention of Pakistan as a terrorist state but I am sure he was determined not to spill beans of bad blood by talking ill about Pakistan, else the very objective of his visit would have been defeated. As everybody knows by now, the agenda of Obama’s visit was not at the cost of disturbing his engagement with Pakistan in tackling the worst terror across the Swat valley and around the border to Afghanistan. He was bloody well aware that a word here and there would throw the whole diplomatic exercise in jeopardy. Beyond what he did by shaking a leg during Diwali celebrations at the Holy Name High school or a freewheel interaction with the students at St Xavier’s college, his agenda was very clearly about reaching out to the people of India, dancing with the differently challenged children and so on.
He is not known as a person desperate to win over the hearts of housewives in India by being a part of Diwali celebrations, or by visiting the Gandhi’s museum at Mani Bhavan. I pity those television channels that showered praises on him for his friendly interaction. Any senile businessman would have done the same. His agenda is quite extensive and perhaps what he did in transit is just a side show.
But I pity our own emotions and human sensitivities too. What doesn’t meet our eyes is what can be well called as his corrective action towards a persisting problem encountered by him day in and day out in his own country in terms of high rate of unemployment. It is not a small issue when the unemployment rate touches 9.6% in a highly developed country. He knows what the root cause is and where it lies.
He is just trying to heal those wounds or at least trying to dress them up for a while. This became clear when he announced a very big bonanza of $10 billion business deals which would help him find employment for his 50,000 people. Was he here on a job searching mission?
This reminds me of my childhood days when we were told that the mothers in the US apparently provoked their kids to eat their food on time, else all the milk and wheat would be shipped across to India. In fact they were right in what they were saying and doing. We the children of those days lived on the same milk and wheat, else we would have died of malnutrition. It is a pity that US mothers today are in a worse situation as compared to our own mothers in India. Today, not only the mothers but the whole generation of patriotic people in the United States are concerned about the high unemployment rate, hence they coax their children to pull up their socks and study well, else all the good jobs will be bagged by Indians. I am told both qualification and merit are in short supply among American youth.
Are we supposed to believe that Obama came to India to send a strong signal to Pakistan by visiting the victims of 26 November at the Taj? Surely not. Obama at this juncture is not in a position to displease Pakistani government although he would have loved to please Indians if that would guarantee his people more jobs in India. That is why exactly he said on the first day of his visit - “Business deals with India is not a one way traffic.” While he lifted the ban on export of sophisticated defense equipment to India he also categorically stated that outsourcing of jobs to India is a great concern across the US. He may not be as sympathetic towards Pakistan’s attitude and its double standards in containing the outbursts of jihadis but he should not be blamed for his double speak. Surely, what he said is not what he meant or believed.
The whole world knows, by saying that a few extremists are destroying the spirit of Islam he is simply trying to buy the confidence of Muslim countries, the confidence of Pakistan establishment in particular. At a later date if he retracts on his statement and dumps Pakistan or for that matter, talks about sending Pakistan to the ‘stone age’ (like the former president George Bush roared once before) it should not be taken as a surprise. After all, United States is capable of saying or doing that to anyone.
What was the real agenda behind Obama’s visit to India? It is mere business, business and more business as usual and nothing else. Much as he may try to evade questions concerning Pakistan, he would be asked more questions like the one asked by Afsheen Irani of HR College in Mumbai, on why Pakistan is such an important ally of US that US has not labeled it a terrorist state? Or the question by another female student asking Obama his opinion on Jihad or questioning his own ability in sustaining his popularity back home?
For the common people however, Obama will remain as a most charismatic and most approachable person but when it comes to diplomacy and addressing the basic questions of mutual interest, we will find him evasive and Hippocratic as always. Like Omar Abdulla said, “When my father did a jig at private parties he was blamed for taking politics silly, but when the American president does the same thing, he is called a moderate and progressive politician. We are good at double standards.”
Was it a successful visit then, you may ask? It will suffice to say for now, he just came, he saw all around and he simply ducked answers from everyone, right from the media men to the last student at St Xavier’s college.