By Amulya Ganguli, IANS,
The influence of the continuing anti-American sentiments in India, dating from the Cold War days, was very much in evidence before and during US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit.
Even before she arrived, this lobby noted the suspected American efforts to undermine the India-US nuclear deal by persuading the G8 to deny to India the enrichment and reprocessing technologies, which had earlier passed muster at the meetings of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) on the deal.
While some doubts remain about this ban although the Americans have clarified that it does not apply to India, more criticism has been voiced by the lobby about the end-use monitoring of American military supplies. The claim by the ruling Congress that such monitoring was in force earlier when the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was in power hasn’t dissuaded the critics.
A third issue that has energised the anti-American group may not be directly related to the secretary of state’s visit, but Washington’s hidden hand has been seen in what BJP leader L.K. Advani has described as “capitulation” by India to Pakistan during the recent talks between the two countries at Sharm el-Sheikh.
The cumulative impact of this posturing has been to put the Manmohan Singh government very much on the defensive. Within weeks, therefore, of its comfortable election victory, the Congress and its government are running for cover on two of the most sensitive issues for the Indian public – relations with America and those with Pakistan.
On both counts, the Indian position has been likened to a sell-out. The government hasn’t helped its cause by blaming poor drafting for the misgivings on the Sharm el-Sheikh document. As a result, the opposition has regained its voice after a period of quiet whimpering following its electoral reverses.
This dramatic change in the political atmosphere is not surprising. Ever since the Cold War, the US has been regarded politically with disapproval in India. The reason was not only its so-called arrogant Ugly American image but also its pronounced tilt in favour of Pakistan which reached its peak during the Bangladesh war. The US, too, was not overly fond of India because of the latter’s closeness to the Soviet Union.
The outcome of the years of mutual dislike was the strengthening of the anti-American lobby comprising not only the leftists, although they were its mainstay, but also influential sections of the Congress and the so-called socialist parties, which have now become a part of the various Janata outfits.
What is curious about this knee-jerk attitude is that it is generally believed to pay political dividends. This is apparently the reason why the BJP has now joined this group although it was the only party during its Jana Sangh days that was not diffident about being supportive of both the US and capitalism. For years, this was its main difference from the supposedly pro-Soviet and socialistic Congress.
Yet, now, the BJP appears to have sensed the political utility of anti-Americanism, so much so that its stance is no different from that of the Communists. This was evident prior to the signing of the nuclear deal when the BJP virtually joined hands with the Left to try to topple the Manmohan Singh government. And it is evident again at present when the BJP is trotting out all the familiar arguments about the government surrendering to American dictates.
It is open to question, however, whether this lobby is no more than a self-serving one, which, though fairly strong in terms of its constituents, is out of sync with the popular mood. On paper, the virtual unanimity on their anti-Americanism among the parties ranging from the BJP on the right of the political spectrum to the communists on the left is a formidable one.
But, as the ease with which the ruling Congress survived their attempts to bring it down showed, it may have read the public mind better than its variegated opponents. The Congress’s electoral victory two months ago also underlined the same point.
It is entirely possible, therefore, that anti-Americanism is no longer a potent force in India as it was, say, during the 1960s when the slogan “amar nam, tomar nam, Vietnam, Vietnam” rent the air in Kolkata, and the Soviet Union was seen as a dependable ally, especially when it sent its warships into the Bay of Bengal after the American Seventh fleet entered it to intimidate India during the Bangladesh war.
As a major opposition party, the BJP is possibly doing itself no little harm by imitating the Left’s anti-US policies from the time of its rejection of the nuclear deal, which is believed to have alienated the party’s middle class support base.
Apart from the demise of communism, what may have reduced the scope for anti-Americanism is the realisation that the US remains the only country which is willing to directly confront the terrorists in the AfPak region. The NATO forces may also be there, but they count for little without the Americans.
Besides, the US establishment, or at least a sizeable section of it, seems to have realised its earlier mistake of supporting dictators in Pakistan and denigrating Indian democracy. It now knows that a dissenting democracy is a more stable ally than a servile dictatorship holding down a restive population.
It is also appreciated in India that the US is indispensable not only for taking on the terrorists but also to bolster India’s position vis-�-vis China as the nuclear deal did despite Beijing’s strong reservations.
In all likelihood, therefore, there is a much wider measure of support for New Delhi’s current proximity to Washington than what the anti-American lobby thinks.
(25-07-2008- Amulya Ganguli is a political analyst. He can be reached at [email protected])