Modi’s US Visit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US marks the beginning of a new uncloaked neo-liberal era in the Indian firmament. The signs are clear that no stone would be left unturned in accelerating the neo-liberal policies and achieving corporate-friendly goals. It is under this light that the US President Barack Obama showered praise on PM Modi saying, “I’ve been impressed with the Prime Minister’s interest in not only addressing the needs of the poorest of the poor in India and revitalizing the economy there, but also his determination to make sure that India is serving as a major power that could help bring about peace and security for the entire world.” Any foreign affairs observer can easily tell what “peace and security for the entire world” really mean coming from a US President. It essentially means war, destruction and subversion of democracies around the world that get in the way of the US (corporate) interests. Modi’s neo-liberal agenda was clear in the US establishment. The US media reported, “Mr. Modi is here to sell a new New India, with himself as the man who can be trusted to deliver on its promise. But it remains to be seen whether he is willing or able to bridge India’s wide differences with the United States on tax policy, climate change, outsourcing, intellectual property rights and other issues.” Modi almost delivered on his mission to attract business deals that will result in direct investment in India. For their part, the American officials and executives want Mr. Modi to remove many of the obstacles that foreign companies face in doing business in India. “The biggest thing the prime minister can do is to re-establish trust,” said Ajay Banga, chief executive of MasterCard, who has championed the cause of American business in India.
At the White House, Modi presented Obama with a copy of "The Bhagavad Gita According to Gandhi." Modi refused to eat anything at the dinner hosted by Obama at the White House as he was fasting for Navratri. The religiosity of the head of the state of a secular country was at its full display in front of the world. In an unusual departure from protocol, Obama took Modi on a short motorcade drive from the White House to the memorial honoring slain U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Ironically Martin Luther King Jr’s statue in the memorial is white and the two men doing tête-à-tête with each other in front of this towering historical figure who fought for justice and civil rights for African-Americans in the US have put the minorities in their own respective countries more in the harm’s way than any previous leader. Obama has presided over record deportations (2 million) during his tenure along with killings and mass incarceration of black youth. Modi on the other hand carries the baggage of Godhra carnage describing the relief camps for displaced Muslims as "child-breeding centers." Typically, the visiting heads of states are invited to the White House to meet with the US President and other Congress leaders for a short time at a given day. This rare second day attention from Obama taking Modi to the MLK memorial underscored the White House's desire to give a warm welcome and erasing the memories of past when he was barred from even entering the U.S.
The issuance of visa for Modi is being seen as a clean chit given by the US government to Modi, and is being presented as some kind of a qualification and abdication of guilt that Modi carries for Godhra. If one is aware even a little bit of the US history and foreign policy and is not fooled by its “human rights” propaganda, one can see that it is precisely what the US has done since decades. It has supported murderous dictators, ruthless warlords, fascist governments, the most fanatic ruling families and anybody no matter how vile their credentials were as long as it served the US interests. This key aspect of the US foreign policy is missing from the mainstream discourse. A certificate from the US is nothing more than a toilet paper. India being one of the largest markets is of supreme interest to the US corporations. The icing on the cake is that now there is hundred percent FDI in defense sector, the US defense contractors can now make another ‘killing’ with the Indian defense establishment. Considering the commercial aspects, the mood is euphoric over Modi.
The US administration and corporate CEOs eagerly laid down red carpet for Prime Minister Modi touting him as the most “business-friendly Prime Minister in India’s recent history,” as Stephen Ezell of the ‘Information Technology and Innovation Foundation’ put it. He further said, “Modi had yet to take action on matters like trade policy and taxes. If he is truly going to deliver on that vision, then he is going to have to make some very difficult decisions.” That quite accurately sums up the expectations of corporate and business houses in the US whether owned by an India-American or otherwise. In his speech in Madison Square Garden or in other meetings, the signal to the private sector and investors was unmistakable. He met with eleven chief executives from companies like Boeing, Google and Goldman Sachs, and then spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations. A vast market for goods and cheap labor i.e. India seems to be welcoming them where the government role is to become facilitator of big money. It is a familiar model for Western investors especially the US where the government is completely controlled by corporations. The big difference however is that in countries like the US and other Western European countries, strong labor movements in early and mid-twentieth century earned a strong social safety net and favorable laws which have yet not been dismantled completely despite strong efforts from successive governments. In India there is no safety net, and labor laws are hardly enforced and most labor force is unorganized living in abysmal conditions. This is a dream for Western investors. What they also want is to have no tariffs in India with minimum or no taxes on their investments; a model quite operational in many US states (Washington state for decades did not levy state tax on Boeing for being in the state and providing jobs).
Narendra Modi addressed a wildly enthusiastic crowd largely made up of Indian-Americans in Madison Square Garden in New York City. Within Indian diaspora in the US, maximum numbers of Gujaratis live in the New York City and they mostly see Modi as their own man who knows and understands business; and has championed the cause of India. Modi offered sops for NRIs and Indian-Americans and played skillfully with their sentiments. He promised life-long visas to ‘Persons of Indian origin’ (PIO) and assured NRIs no hassle from Indian officials and system when they land in India. He praised the Indian Americans for changing the image of India from being known as a land of snake charmers to the land from where highly skilled and educated IT professionals come, and who have done wonders in the field. He lavished praises for their success in the United States. As New York Times reported, “In an hour-long speech that was signature Modi, complete with rhetorical flourishes, soaring arms, and a good deal of snarkiness, the Prime Minister made fun of those who say he lacks big vision. His remarks were directed equally at the folks back home, where Mr. Modi won a sweeping electoral victory in May, and at American officials and investors he is wooing.” He met with two mayors and three governors, and more than two dozen members of Congress who attended his event at the Madison Square Garden.
A remarkable assertion in Modi’s Madison Square Garden speech was that “the governments cannot do development,” it has to be done by the private sector or a private citizen – a complete departure from whatever socialist principles enshrined in the preamble of the Indian constitution or the Indian constitution itself. Modi also mentioned in his speech that if he could he would remove one outdated law each day during his first year. That’s not a bad thing if British-era laws of control are removed, but due to Modi’s pro-corporate stance this should be taken with a grain of salt. Speaking to the U.S. India Business Council, Modi vowed to continue his war on red tape and urged US business to take advantage of the rapid changes in India. My country has come awake," he said. "Please come. And together you will benefit and my country will also benefit." It touches the chord of a huge percentage of Indian-Americans who are bitten by the fanaticism of entrepreneurship and business ownership for profit.
The Indian diaspora in the US, mostly upper middle-class, is conservative, very identity-conscious, and wants to see India as a superpower no matter how removed this notion is from reality. In a first-world country, the Indian community by and large does not want to be associated to a third-world country i.e. their motherland. They don’t want to be seen associated to a country that is marred by poverty, corruption, illiteracy, lack of basic infrastructure and basic human amenities. They want the image of shining India, a proud legacy which they can associate to and boast about. In a foreign land they want to be seen from a country that is past the basic problems, growing at a rapid pace and can flex its muscle if needed. The identification with a poor country is just unpalatable. A matter of fact report in New York Times unwittingly quotes an example that underlines this deeper psyche: “Mr. Modi’s emphasis on prosperity and cleanliness appealed to Rohit Sehgal of Secaucus, N.J. He said he hoped the changes Mr. Modi was promising would get his daughter’s generation to stop complaining about the roads and the garbage in India. ‘I want my daughter to want to go back to her country,’ he said.” Modi symbolizes this assertion, recounting glory of the ancient (Hindu) past coupled with promises of modern development.
Most Indians in the US see themselves as different and superior to other minority groups like Mexicans, Latinos, African-Americans and even East Asians, including Chinese. Being Asians, they want to see at least a regional super-power directly competing with China if not globally. It is a wishful thinking as China has surged past India in almost all respects. The competition with China is not so concealed in Modi’s plank of “Make in India” which he repeated on many occasions including his Madison Square Garden speech. In his Madison Square Garden speech he emphasized on cheap labor, increasingly lax rules (translate it to lax labor laws) and partnership with corporate sector as key selling points for “Make in India” campaign. We now seem to be vying for the position of “manufacturing center of the world” which unenviously now belongs to China. Both publicly and privately, Mr. Modi has listed his own priorities for India: building toilets, expanding Internet broadband access in the countryside, training young people for work and cleaning up the Ganges, a holy river in Hindu scripture. “He is projecting an image of India that we haven’t seen in a while — that is, an India as a global player,” said Vishakha Desai, a former president of the Asia Society, who attended the Madison Square Garden speech. Modi cleverly appealed to his largely young supporters, under the age of 35 – to join him in a revolution that will destroy the corrupt old political order and uproot its moral and ideological foundations while propping the essential framework, the market economy, of a glorious New India. In a country, where many (Hindu right) revere the author of Mein Kampf for his tremendous will to power and organization, he has shrewdly deployed the idioms of management, national security and civilizational glory.
The propaganda of Gujarat model is so pervasive, especially in the US that any attempt to question it is immediately gutted by Hindutva forces. Terror and intimidation with complete disregard to rule of law have been the hallmark of Modi’s tenure in Gujarat, but is difficult to say that in social space hijacked by neo-fascist Hindutva forces. As Praful Bidwai pointed out during the time of elections, “Mr Kejriwal punctured Mr Modi’s bloated image, and exposed him as a corrupt, venal and cynical politician—a crony capitalist and ‘a property dealer,’ who grabs land from poor farmers and gives it to the Ambanis, the Tatas and the Adani group at throwaway prices. He highlighted the rampant corruption, rising unemployment, appalling state of government schools and crippling power shortages prevalent in Gujarat.” Add to it the highest number of malnourished children are in Gujarat. Very quickly Arvind Kejriwal was the target of most vicious and malicious personal attack, caricatured and ridiculed relentlessly in social media. It was a smear campaign to completely wipe out any credibility for any leader that stood in opposition to Narendra Modi. The mainstream media now largely a conglomerate owned by Ambanis devoted itself into creating the cult of Modi; dissenting journalists were either silenced or removed. A senior American diplomat described Modi, in cables disclosed by WikiLeaks, as an "insular, distrustful person" who "reigns by fear and intimidation"; his neo-Hindu devotees on Facebook and Twitter continued to render the air mephitic with hate and malice, creating fresh enemies – "terrorists", "jihadis", "Pakistani agents", "pseudo-secularists", "sickulars", "socialists" and "commies." The social media is the newest tool of propaganda and has worked quite well; Modi was ahead of competition in recognizing its power of manipulating and playing with the psyche of people. It worked well among Indian diaspora in the US. Modi spoke to the biases of Indian diaspora, predominantly Hindu and is subtly making Hinduism as a basic feature of governance. In his speech he again presented himself as a humble tea-vendor, the son-of-the-soil challenger to the Congress's haughty dynasts; a subtle ploy of rags to riches story, a psychological trick [to keep workers working in the hope of becoming rich one day] in modern day narratives in capitalist economies. The plank of economic reform plus violent and aggressive Hindutva benefits big business as only a certain tiny class needs to be satisfied whereas the remaining population can very well become serfs [of the modern day feudal lords].
Amidst the fanfare and pageantry at Madison Square garden, there were protests by a relatively large group of Indian-Americans demanding justice for Gujarat massacre of Muslims in 2002 and 1984 massacre of Sikhs; both state sponsored events glossed over by respective governments and courts. The mainstream media largely chose not to cover it. The demands of justice for the victims have been unrelenting. Every year during the Independence Day parade and gala at Fremont California, a wealthy sub-urban city with large Indian population sees protests and demands of justice for Sikh victims in 1984 riots. Now the Gujarat massacre is added to the list. The baggage is heavy for Modi to let go easily. In a recent interview given to Fareed Zakaria of CNN, when asked about Al-Jawahiri’s call of establishing a branch of Al-Qaeda in India, Modi replied, “My understanding is that they (Al-Qaeda) are doing injustice towards the Muslims of our country. If anyone thinks Indian Muslims will dance to their tune, they are delusional. Indian Muslims will live for India, they will die for India — they will not want anything bad for India.” It is kind of a backhanded insult to the Muslim population of India. Instead of replying in terms of policy, Modi chose to flag Muslim fealty which sounded almost like a qualification to stay in India. Hindus on the other hand have no need to prove they are valid citizens by living and dying for the country, they can be whatever they are with their place and rights assured. Not surprisingly, pro-Modi, pro-corporate mainstream media in India celebrated it as a clear signal of inclusiveness for one and all. Fringe outfits are on national television speaking in a quasi-government tone. Its members distribute pamphlets against Muslims and nobody is arrested for it. Prejudice has become the new identity.
Modi’s visit to the US also marks a clear departure from whatever is left of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). Once a proud non-aligned country, India now sees itself as a “natural” partner to the US especially in the realm of counter-terrorism. The visit "has reinforced my conviction that India and the United States are natural global partners, based on our shared values, interests and strengths in the digital age," said Modi after the first formal meeting. “The U.S. is eagerly trying to move forward with Modi in order to put the past behind them,” Milan Vaishnav, an associate in the South Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, said in a phone interview. “In terms of a leader-to-leader relationship, this is almost like starting anew.” Obama and Modi discussed shared intelligence on terrorism and regional concerns, including Afghanistan, where the U.S. is winding down its 13-year military involvement. India has always accused Pakistan of harboring terrorism and promoting terrorist outfits; the US by now accepts this premise, killing Osama-bin Laden in Pakistan and bombing north-west Pakistan at will the alliance seems more than natural. India is dangerously leaning towards the US; for the very first time India voted against Iran in the UN. Since independence India has tried to form solidarity with developing nations but the shift is now palpable. Unlike Christina Kirchner, President of Argentina who in her UN speech lambasted US financial firms and courts for forcing Argentina to default on debt, a scathing criticism of financial domination of the US and the dollar, PM Modi in his entire UN speech, focused his attention on terrorism and veiled threats to Pakistan. "The humanity of the entire world needs to come together to fight terrorism," he said.
A joint statement also said Obama and Modi agreed "to intensify cooperation in maritime security to ensure freedom of navigation and unimpeded movement of lawful shipping and commercial activity, in accordance with accepted principles of international law." This is really in reaction to China’s increasing assertiveness over territorial claims in South and East China Sea. To contain China, the US needs India to be on its side to provide a counterweight to China, whose maritime moves in the Asia-Pacific have rattled regional nerves. Obama and Modi also agreed to negotiate a 10-year extension of a military cooperation framework due to expire at year-end, and will stress counter-terrorism cooperation and joint efforts against militant networks. In a joint "vision statement" on Monday, Obama and Modi vowed to make what the two countries call a "strategic" partnership a model for the rest of the world.
India has not taken a side in the war in Syria, and continues to do business with Iran. But in steps that American officials have noted, Modi has improved ties with Japan, cautioned China against expansionism and signaled that he can be trusted as a friend to the United States in fighting terrorism. He met with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on the sidelines of the General Assembly. These are very dangerous signals, making India stand on the wrong side of history. Netanyahu is boycotted by almost the whole world except the US and the UK for his murderous role in Palestine and continuous expansion and land grab in Palestine. An Indian head of state meeting with such monster seals any hope for the right role of India in international affairs, and sets itself free of any remnants of foreign policy of Nehruvian era. Ashley Tellis, an international security specialist at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, called the Obama-Modi vision statements "wonderfully aspirational," but added: "Now we’ve got to see whether the policies both sides pursue actually get them to where they want to go. The record thus far does not inspire confidence."
Other issues discussed included clean energy, climate change, medical collaboration to fight diseases and scientific efforts to improve sanitation and hygiene throughout India. The Obama administration reached an agreement with India on measures intended to accelerate that country’s shift to renewable fuels, steps that will reduce carbon emissions while helping India’s new government extend electricity to all of its 1.2 billion citizens. The agreement announced also represented a potentially significant victory for Obama’s climate strategy. The White House has been pressing Indian officials to publicly commit to slowing the growth of greenhouse-gas emissions even as the country rapidly modernizes. India recently surpassed the European Union as the world’s third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases, after China and the United States (per capita emissions of India however are still one of the lowest in the world). The US itself has not committed itself to any greenhouse-gas emission reductions; and Obama administration has been particularly aggressive in jeopardizing any effort to reach any binding agreement in Climate summits. It however, got India to accept to work with other countries to address the buildup of the HFCs under the framework of the Montreal Protocol, the 25-year-old treaty that outlawed HFCs for damaging earth’s ozone layer. India is the world’s fastest-growing producer of HFCs, though its capacity lags far behind that of the United States and China. It is not binding on the US either and all Obama administration has done to secure “cooperation” from major U.S. chemical manufacturers to rapidly phase out domestic production of HFCs in favor of more environmentally friendly alternatives already on the market.
According to Washington Post, “In one of the most significant initiatives, the Obama administration cleared the way for $1 billion in financing from the U.S. Export-Import Bank to help India purchase American technology for clean-energy projects. Other measures would expand U.S.-Indian cooperation on improving air quality and energy efficiency, and on helping coastal cities prepare for flooding and other weather-related disasters, the statement said.” Despite growing military ties, the US is still frustrated with India for its failure to open its economy to more foreign investment and address intellectual property complaints. The Obama administration is trying its best to get India to its fold and Narendra Modi looks eager. The Modi vist makes the arrest and strip search of the Indian diplomat last year that had frayed the bilateral relations look as a thing of distant past. If this visit is any indication of the future to come, the issues (mainly economic and nuclear) that have kept the US and India at arm’s length will probably soon be resolved with India conceding to US demands as it did this time. It presents India as a market than a sovereign country which is an alarming sign for the future.
