Quote:The American business groups and lawmakers have been outspoken, too. The House Ways and Means Committee Chairman said India’s actions “are completely unacceptable and put into doubt its credibility as a responsible trading partner.†The Trade Subcommittee Chairman Devin Nunes warned that India is “running the risk of eliminating any sense of goodwill toward it.†(here). When money is involved, Americans are plain-speaking.
However, the criticism overlooks that Modi is India’s prime minister and it is India’s core interests that become his primary concern. This cannot be mixed up with American “goodwill†toward India. The WTO, strictly speaking, is not a bilateral issue between the US and India. Simply put, unlike his predecessor Manmohan Singh, PM Modi does not subscribe to the Washington Consensus and the Americans need to get used to that.
What I liked best was the way the PM put across the Indian stance, here, during his meeting with Kerry — that the first responsibility of his government was to the poorest people of his country. Frankly, it takes gumption for an Indian prime minister to say such a thing to a top American policymaker, given the culture of kowtowing that prevailed during the UPA rule.
All reports suggest that this decision on the Indian stance at the WTO negotiations every bit carried the stamp of the PM. Of course, Modi rises in our esteem. Most important, his decision on WTO also underscores that Modi has thought through the foreign policy directions of his government and has a mind of his own — and it is vastly different from what was propagated by time servers who claimed to speak on his behalf.
Quote:The stunning part is that the thought that the acrimonious disagreement over the WTO deal surfaced in the run-up to Modi’s forthcoming visit to Washington next month didn’t seem to worry him. In the Manmohan Singh era, there would have been much angst and hand-wringing at such a juncture. In turn, Modi has ‘reset’ the atmospherics of his visit. ‘India-first’ — that becomes the signal tune of his visit to the US, and how it rubs against Obama’s ‘America-first’ priorities will bear watch. Indeed, this reclusive, austere, strong-willed Indian leader is certainly very unlike what the Americans are used to.
What emerges once again is that Modi is crafting an independent foreign policy, something that the UPA professed. This is going to put India’s opposition parties in dilemma. Their pin drop silence apropos the WTO issue testifies to that. Shouldn’t they eschew petulance and show maturity to commend Modi — and defend him — when such harsh criticism is being thrown at him in the Western media? After all, this is a national issue of immense significance for the multitude of the poorest of poor people in our country. It even has an ‘anti-imperialist’ touch.
Posted in Diplomacy.
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