The government has not bristled under the collar as it might have in another era, but it has been made quite clear that the US President’s views are out of line
If US president Barack Obama were an analyst, he has said things about India that are pretty valid in his recent interview to the Press Trust of India. Many Indians may indeed be inclined to agree with him even on the issue of the “deteriorating investment climate” in the country and of India still being a pretty hard place to do business in. But Mr Obama is hardly a disinterested observer.
As the head of the world’s most powerful nation that has a history of bullying, hectoring and invading countries that think and act differently from what it expects, President Obama has quite appropriately laid himself open to censure from all quarters in this country. His reported statements have been criticised by political parties across the spectrum and also by the nation’s leading industry and business associations. The government has not bristled under the collar as it might have in another era, but it has been made quite clear that the US President’s views are out of line.
The reason for this is that Mr Obama’s opinions will be seen as a way to pressure India to open up to American business and industry in specific sectors such as retail. If there is anything that is consistently true of India since its Independence, it is its complete aversion to being lectured to, and the faintest whiff that another country deems it fit to seek to influence its domestic agenda — economic, political or in international affairs. It is a pity that the American leader did not take this into account.
Particularly after the India-US civil nuclear agreement went through under President George W. Bush, Mr Obama’s predecessor became the American President to be viewed in the friendliest terms in this country. No US leader had ventured that far in going with India. Mr Obama, in contrast, began with a handicap, and India-US ties went somewhat quiet with the appointment of America’s first AfPak special envoy, who was seen here as having ideas that brought in the Kashmir question into the Afghan equation. Acting wisely, Washington retraced its steps, and Mr Obama gave signs since then of having a much better grasp of the Indian reality and Indian sensitivities. He also went out of his way sometimes to be solicitous. The latest remarks, however, may blur that impression somewhat without the US deriving any advantage from that situation.
Mr Obama should have let American business do all the talking instead of stepping in himself. The way he has spoken, it appears he has been given an insufficient appreciation of Indian political processes and track record. The Indian leadership should just make it clear that it chooses its own destinations and pace.
Comments
Obama can bark all he wants.
samelson
17 Jul 2012 - 03:05
Obama can bark all he wants. He should be ignored or asked to mind his own business. He is looking for donations from U.S. Industries for his reelection.
Allowing Wal-Mart to enter INDIA would be a big mistake. Those who are familiar with what is happening in the U.S. and elsewhere where Wal-Mart was allowed to enter will attest to the fact that Wal-Mart systematically destroys all their competitors, like family owned businesses and eventually hikes the prices to the consumers to whatever they please.
The fabricated interview with
Satish Chandra
16 Jul 2012 - 23:46
The fabricated interview with Obama appeared in two versions in the Indian media about 5 A.M. Washington time on Sunday, July 15 '12 in response to what I said in a press release (below) on July 11 '12 and subsequently:-
Manmohan Singh at the G-20 meeting in Mexico on June 18 '12 pledged $10 billion to the IMF to help European countries such as Greece and Italy cope with debt but will not use the money to help tens of thousands of Indian farmers committing suicide due to indebtedness or hundreds of millions of India's malnourished children. He seeks foreign investment -- that is, foreign ownership and control of India -- but will not invest the hundreds of billions of dollars he has given to the United States government -- in exchange for U.S. Treasury bonds -- in India. This is not even counting the unlimited amount of capital available to India by simply printing the money so long as it is used for productive purposes: 'How India's Economy Can Grow 30% Per Year Or More' :HowIndiasEconomyCanGrowDOTblogspotDOTcom . An example of foreign investment trumpeted by Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma is a $5 billion investment in India announced by Coca Cola to give Indians harmful-to-health beverages and replace healthier and tastier Indian beverages. Such examples of American rule over India in economic, military and all spheres can be multiplied hundreds of times. India's nuclear forces have been accused in the past of presenting photo-shopped non-existent missiles and non-existent nuclear warheads but India's nuclear warheads emplaced in U.S. cities since then are not non-existent : 'Nuclear Supremacy For India Over U.S.' :NuclearSupremacyForIndiaOverUSDOTblogspotDOTcom . If it is the non-existence of "knowledge, intelligence, courage and character" which is responsible for their not having triggered the warheads, with a warning that additional U.S. cities will be destroyed if there is any retaliation, it is MY responsibility to provide the knowledge, intelligence, courage and character; all they have to do is obey India's legitimate ruler and it is high time they did so without further delay: 'Satyam Shivam Sundaram Satish Chandra' :SatyamShivamSundaramSatishChandraDOTblogspotDOTcom .
I have referred in 'Source of Manmohan Singh's 'Deep Love' For Bush' -- SourceOfManmohanSinghsDeepLoveForBushDOTblogspotDOTcom -- to the British in India having killed over ten million Indians in just the ten years after 1857; people have mistakenly assumed these to be deaths caused by famine but NO, NO, NO, these were deaths caused by the gun and sword and hangings and being blown from the mouths of cannons in just the ten years after 1857 in just Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Bihar; the deaths caused by famines during British rule were quite separate from this; see Amaresh Misra's 'India AD 1857' in two volumes totaling over two thousand pages (Delhi: Rupa & Co., 2008) which describes hundreds of the battles fought during the 1857 uprising which was thousands of times bigger and more extensive, over the entire subcontinent, than India's colonial administration -- all Indian governments after 1947 have been a continuation of white colonial rule; see 'What You Should Know About RAW': WhatYouShouldKnowAboutRAWDOTblogspotDOTcom -- will let Indians know; this two volume work should replace the Ramayan and Mahabharat as required daily reading in Indian homes and schools -- all educational institutions at all levels should have required courses in the 1857 War of Independence studies -- without which Indians cannot capture the hatred for the white man (and woman) to win India's War of Independence: 'A Note on Hate': ANoteOnHateDOTblogspotDOTcom and 'Join India's War of Independence' : JoinIndiaWarOfIndependenceDOTblogspotDOTcom . With the simultaneous nuclear destruction of New Delhi, Washington and New York, with a warning that additional U.S. cities will be destroyed if there is any retaliation, this time the result of India's War of Independence will be different. Satish Chandra
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