THINK!

Literally, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Bombay late on Friday night, under heavy political downpour, to begin her three-day visit to India. Since Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s return from Sharm el-Sheikh (Egypt), the country is upset by the apparent appeasement of Pakistan by Indian political leadership under obvious American pressure. Clintons (Bill & Hillary) have been quite popular in India since the President’s visit in March 2000. Hillary Clinton was clearly the Indian favorite in last year’s presidential elections, but not as a senior diplomat of the Obama Administration. She is bound to recognize that George W Bush remains the most popular American president, despite the unpopular Iraq war. This is because of what he did for India and not what he and others said about India. George Bush distrusted China and therefore sought a strategic partnership with India. Barack Obama equates India with Pakistan and would pressure Manmohan Singh government to make political concessions to Pakistan. Hillary Clinton is a loyal soldier of the Obama brigade and is unlikely to contradict her unpopular boss in India!

Sooner or later Hillary and ultimately Obama would realize that the next four years would be unpleasant for Indo-American relationship. It would be ironic that the former First Lady might bear the brunt of India’s dislike for her unworthy president. This relationship has the potential of bringing down the Prime Minister of India. Indians have lost all trust in Pakistan and its leadership. Never before the distrust has been so intense and if Manmohan Singh does not understand this, his days are numbered! Remember the fit President Bill Clinton threw after India tested nuclear devices? He imposed all kinds of sanctions against India. The Vajpayee government was not impressed and withstood every kind of American pressure. This was followed by the most intense and hard-fought negotiations between Strobe Talbot and Jaswant Singh that lasted more than a year. India gained respect and stature around the world, not because some rudimentary nuclear devices but because of its resolve in world-class diplomacy. Compared to the pre-eminent diplomatic team of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Jaswant Singh and Brijesh Mishra, the current team of Manmohan Singh, S M Krishna and M K Narayanan is like a third-rate group of desi-babus.