Grand Obama begging game
By: Arindam Chaudhuri Date: 2010-11-12 Place: Pune
Barack Obama came, he spoke and he conquered. At least that's what some of the biggest media houses would have you believe. Nothing could be more misleading for the Indian public. Here are the reasons why the trip had only of feel-good factor.
>> Obama had a clear-cut mandate. He took away business worth 10 billion dollars and 50,000 jobs. These 10 billion dollars could have been used in India to create 200 times more jobs, because for every American job we create in America, we can roughly create about 200 jobs in rural India.
>> He did speak of the need for Pakistan to bring 26/11 criminals to justice. However, he never spoke of access to Headley or the 2.2 billion dollars military aid to Pakistan. He only used cleverly worded stuff about Pakistan to gain brownie points in India without giving away anything.
>>He did not utter a word about China and its role in supporting Pakistan or its illegal occupation of Indian land. But a few months back, he spoke about the need for China to be the guardian of South Asia, including Kashmir.
>> It was nice of Obama to be so appreciative of Gandhi. But as Americans prepare for a war on Iran ” less for security issues and more to revive their economy, I doubt if Gandhi is what he really believes in.
>>The big Obama announcement is supposed to have been about his support to India for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council. It might be noted that Bush has said what he said in the exact words before him and Clinton before that. It's a shame that as a nation, we get so excited by such lip service.
>> Indians were made to believe that we being a growing economic superpower, America needs Indian markets. Obama had come here less for Indian markets and more for the money that the Indian government plans to spend on dual-use technology, nuclear and military programmes etc. He wanted those deals.
>>Finally, outsourcing! Obama didn't say a word about diluting his anti-outsourcing stance. He lobbied for more access to Indian markets ” basically biotech, pharma, retail etc. And as Indians, we did not say a word about our lack of access to their agriculture products' market, where we could make huge gains.
In a nutshell, it can be concluded that just like American typical standards, Obama's current journey to India was a trip to get without giving; to talk about free markets while keeping their markets protected.
A wake up call for india
