In My View

Washington tour de force

First steps on the streets of the quaint town which supposedly holds all the power that makes the world go round, had to be tentative. But very quickly one had the sense that Washington, despite its self-avowed sense of importance, has the look and feel of a small, large town.

Even the American National Press Club that held such mystique when a Rajiv Gandhi was invited to address its assemblage in mid-1980s, for example, was really two top floors of a normal steel and concrete building. It consisted of a few convention halls, the regulation watering hole and a restaurant, and a corridor full of pictures that did not really lead up to anywhere. This was really a marginally upscale Press Club of India, situated in New Delhi.

One could sense an attempt at creating a historical milieu in the club. But that was not so well served when a leading member of the Club and senior journalist of a provincial newspaper – entrusted to give the tour to the visiting fellows - refused to engage in a conversation of increasing “corporatisation” of media. The context for the topic was provided by the legendary Dan Rather of the CBS television channel suing the latter for $ 70 million in damages.

The context for the milieu of an earlier meeting was literally set much closer to the ground. That was at the grey-white, concrete, boxlike structure of the US department of state head office at Foggy Bottom, Washington. The building creates almost as much empathy for America’s global interests as does its policies. So when one hears in that building the words that India is ‘the’ most important relationship of the present US administration, one cannot but feel a little curious.

The feeling of curiosity was framed outside of the building, literally on the street right across US State Department offices, when a ‘homeless’ person – US-speak for a beggar – had shouted, “George Bush is your business partner, you m*****f*****g Indian.” His anger had stemmed from being fobbed off with 50 cents when he had demanded a dollar. The truth of the statement could not have been better expressed even if the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, had couched it in civilised diplomatese.

The US urgency to do business with India was despite an opposition of Indian political opinion against such a relationship developing, and “soundbytes” of opposition in the USA, we were informed in one of the briefing rooms on the upper floors of the building. One of the key areas of focus - outside of the currently ongoing nuclear dialogue – is the “agricultural knowledge initiative.” New Delhi is being urged to remove ‘inhibitions’ on agricultural infrastructure and expansion of food processing.

Curiously, Indian agriculture was also an issue that featured in Hawai’i, of all places, a couple of weeks ago. Honolulu’s most important weekly newspaper had featured a list of 20 news items that America’s mainstream media have ignored. And one of them was the issue of genetically modified crops being introduced in the country on the back of the agricultural initiative.

An active defence relationship with India is also on the table at the US state department; besides an interesting programme of routing Central European students opting to study in the USA through India for English language lessons.

But far more interesting was the US government’s take on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Tamil insurgency. Asserting that the Sri Lankan problem did not have a military solution, Washington looked for higher standards of governance and justice. The ban on LTTE could be lifted if it “disarmed.” And the Tamil insurgency could not be dubbed just “terrorism.”

Even more important was what was said about Nepal. The US government appeared convinced that in the November elections in that Himalayan enclave, the CPN (M-L-M), Maoists in short, would not come to power. Instead, they would be a minority opposition force. And their recent departure from governance duties was being viewed as an attempt to gain credibility ahead of the polls.

On the other hand, the USA was trying to convince China that its growing intimacy with India was not an attempt at “encircling” Beijing. In fact, the USA was not worried about China making forays into Africa. Instead it watches with increasing interest Khartoum, Sudan turning into a boom town with the help of Chinese investments.

New York, on the other hand, had the look of a boom town in decline. While its raucous culture; unacceptance of government laws unquestioningly; and general squalor made it far more familiar and hospitable for an Indian used to living in Kolkata or Mumbai. It also somehow had a pall hanging over it.

On the way back in the plane to Hawai’i, a senior attorney employed with one of the American provincial governments summed it all up when he said, “The American dream summed up by ‘full faith and credit’ is failing. Ask any average American, he will tell you there is something seriously wrong with the country.” A part-time bible preacher whose secular job is to monitor and manage retirement funds said, “Look at the condition of the dollar. It won’t even help our exports because we don’t produce anything. We are only a nation of consumers.”

Pinaki Bhattacharya, currently located in Kolkata, is a Special Correspondent with the Mathrubhum, Kerala. He writes on Strategic Security issues. He can be contacted at pinaki63@dataone.in . He is presently in Hawai’i, the USA at the East West Centre as a Student Fellow of the Asia Pacific Leadership Programme of the Centre.