[Marxistindia] PM's visit to New York and Washington

[news from the cpi(m)]

Editorial appearing in People's Democracy dated October 5, 2014

 

Indian Prime Minister's Visit to New York and Washington

 

Lack of Substance: A Dangerous Portend

 

Prime Minister Modi's visit to New York and Washington on the occasion of
addressing the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) turned out to
be, as the PTI reported, of the nature of a "rock star celebrity".  His
speeches at the Madison Square Garden and the annual rock star ritual that
takes place every year on the occasion of the UNGA at New York's Central
Park confirmed once again that the mindset of a continuing Indian election
campaign has not yet been discarded by Prime Minister Modi.  Commenting on
his first address to the Nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort, this
column had noted that the election hangover appears to continue.  We had
suggested that the PM should be politely told that the elections are over
and people expect him to start "walking the talk".  But the talk continues
and after Tokyo has now reached New York.  `Walking' has yet to begin as far
as we, Indians, are concerned.  

 

It has by now become a habit to regularly comment on the Prime Minister's
global interactions in this column.  After his visit to Tokyo and his
interactions with the Chinese President in India, it is now the turn of his
visit to the US.  The PM's global itinerary has been so crowded that we
could not squeeze in comments on his visits to Nepal, Bhutan and
interactions with the Australian Prime Minister in New Delhi.  The irony of
all this lies in the fact that he is scrupulously following the global
interactions whose pace was set by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Yet we are being told ad nasuem that PM Modi has set himself the task to
"liberate" India from the "paralysis" of the government under former PM
Manmohan Singh!  

 

Lest the PM is accused of ignoring the travails of the Indian people, we are
now being bombarded by official advertisements informing that the Prime
Minister will address the nation on October 3.  The official propaganda is
that this address is on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti that falls on October
2.  But October 3 is Vijaya Dashami - Dussera.  Recollect that the RSS,
since its foundation, always hoisted the saffron flag on Vijaya Dashami
accompanied by the ritual of the RSS Sarsanghchalak addressing the
Swayamsevaks (read the Nation in today's context) annually.  By choosing to
address the Nation through the Doordarshan and the All India Radio (who have
graciously announced that the `electronic feed' of this address will be
available freely to all other media outlets to broadcast), is PM Modi
seeking also  simultaneously to don the mantle  of the RSS chief  and, thus,
remove the hairline distinction between the RSS and the BJP - the latter
functioning as the political arm of the former?  

 

As we go to press, the much awaited Indo-US Joint Statement has been
released.  Apart from a general reassertion of the continuing strategic
relationship between India and USA, eight separate statements  on - health
cooperation; continuing strategic consultations; development cooperation;
deepening security partnership; civil space and technological cooperation;
promoting women's empowerment; on energy and climate change; and on
deepening cultural ties between India and USA have been released. 

 

While there has been nothing substantial in terms of any advance  from the
agreements already reached  between India and the USA on all these aspects,
the running thread appears the increasing pressures by the USA to draw India
more into its loop of advancing US strategic interests in all these spheres.
The objective of this was clearly articulated by Nicholas Burns in the
Washington Post (September 28, 2014), "In strategic terms, there are few
countries more important to Washington than India, the dominant power in the
Indian Ocean region and, with Japan, the most important US partner in Asia
seeking to limit  Chinese assertiveness in the region".  The US strategic
objective since the end of the Cold War, articulated officially in its
documents,  has been the "containment of China". President Obama is pursuing
this objective, aggressively, on the basis of the assessment of the
Washington Post, "One of his (PM Modi's) primary ambitions is to renew
relations with Washington".  

 

This appears to have been endorsed by the so-called Joint Vision Statement
that appeared as a joint editorial by President Obama and PM Modi in the
Washington Post  titled `Chalein Saath Saath: Forward together we go'.
Ominously,  Chaleinge Saath Saath is the Hindi translation of a line from
the famous anthem of African Americans popularized by Rev. Martin Luther
King Jr. `we shall overcome'. It is ominous because this Hindi translation
which was popularized by the Left was hijacked and elevated to the level of
an anthem in India by Sanjay Gandhi during the period of internal emergency,
the abrogation of democracy, democratic rights and civil liberties.  

 

During his various speeches, the Indian PM highlighted India's commitment in
fighting terrorism and that India makes no distinction between "bad
terrorism" and "good terrorism". Soon after  came his one to one meeting
with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu!  The criminal anti-human
Israeli attacks on the Palestinians and the killing of innocent people,
women and children,  are all justified by such definitions of fighting
"terrorism" that continues to deny the Palestinians their basic fundamental
right to a homeland for over six decades.  Once again, an ominous signal.  

 

Those expecting the Indo-US Joint Statement to be a significant advance from
the past were forewarned by the spokesman of India's Ministry of External
Affairs who said that the Indo-US Summit interaction "had three major
components - connecting with each other, vision for the ties and cooperation
in various areas".  

 

Clearly, therefore, what was envisioned is the deepening of the Indo-US
strategic partnership where India would be drawn deeper as a strategic
subordinate ally in implementing the US global vision.  The vision statement
says that India and USA shall "together seek a reliable and enduring
friendship that bolsters security and stability, contributes to  the global
economy, and advances peace and prosperity for our citizens and throughout
the world". 

 

As far as the main objective of this visit - attending and addressing the
UNGA - is concerned, Indian PM's speech marked no significant advance or
contribution. Media reports, "the first ever UN address of Mr. Modi was in
danger of being marred by a possible `hot mic' moment in which the President
and Co-Chair of the General Assembly, apparently unaware that they could be
heard over the PA system, appeared to allude to a lack of courtesy by the
Indian delegation as it departed from the podium perhaps too abruptly for
the accompanying protocol personnel to keep up with them. ...The relevant
segment of the audio, which The Hindu has obtained (reported on September
29), was not particularly clear, yet in it UNGA President Sam Kutesa of
Uganda could be heard saying what sounded like, "Let them settle a bit,"
then adding, "Making a racket," and "You have to have a little courtesy to
wait over there" and finally "But I think.India consider itself.."
(unprintable, we presume).

 

Similar Indian media commentaries have suggested  that the discussions
between PM Modi and President Obama were an exhaustive "laundry list" of all
agreements between both sides from knowledge partnerships and renewable
energies to nuclear issues.  "However, it lack significant progress, or
breakthrough  in various issues the two nation's face". 

 

Significantly, defence cooperation is slated to increase further with the
Indian government already approving the purchase of US attack and heavy lift
helicopters. US has, thus, become India's largest supplier of arms in the
past five years, overtaking Russia.  India is also the largest purchaser of
Israeli armaments amongst all countries in the world, thus, the largest
financier of Israeli military attacks on the Palestinians!  

 

The highlight of this visit was the subtle but an important change that the
Indian PM made in his formulations.  In the Red Fort speech, he spoke of
making India an industrial hub by advancing the slogan of "Made in India".
In the US, he spoke repeatedly of "Make in India".  The former should have
meant the strengthening of India's domestic industrial production base while
the latter is an open invitation for foreign investments, particularly US
investments, whose main objective is profit maximization and not augmenting
India's productive capacities.  For this purpose, India appears ready, much
to the glee of India Inc., to further liberalise its economy to foreign
capital both speculative (FII) and FDI. Such an opening up of Indian market,
resources and cheap labour for foreign profit maximization is the surest
recipe for imposing further hardships on the Indian people.  

 

In sum, therefore, this visit of PM Modi to the US may well result in
deepening the status of India as a subordinate ally of US imperialism and
its global strategic concerns.  This does not auger well for India's
independent foreign policy which marked its special place in international
relations and amongst the comity of Nations in the world.  It is not in
India's interests to sacrifice good neighbourly relations to advance US
strategic interests.  Of course, the concerns of India's sovereignty and
security will always remain non-negotiable. While maintaining this, India's
independent relations with all countries in the world is an important
element in the creation of a world of multi-polarity following the end of
the bipolar Cold War era.  By this visit and its outcome, the danger is of
India cementing itself as a subordinate strategic ally of US designs for a
Uni-polar world under its hegemony.  In India's interests, this drift to
disaster must not be  allowed.  

 

October 1, 2014

 

 

Central Committee

Communist Party of India (Marxist)

A.K. Gopalan Bhawan

27-29, Bhai Vir Singh Marg, Gole Market

New Delhi 110 001

 

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