The White House sees India as an ally but not a ‘close friend’

US President Biden on 4 February cited as US’s “closest friends” Canada, Mexico, the UK, Germany, France, NATO, Japan, South Korea and Australia. India did not figure in this list.

The White House sees India as an ally but not a ‘close friend’
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Ashis Ray

There is a noticeable difference between the readouts issued by the White House and the Ministry of External Affairs regarding Narendra Modi’s 8 February phone call to United States President Joseph Biden. A difference which can be interpreted as diplomatically and politically not insignificant.

The White House readout stated: “The President underscored his desire to defend democratic institutions and norms around the world and noted that a shared commitment to democratic values is the bedrock for the US-India relationship.”

The MEA readout provided a variation of the exchange. It said: “They (Biden and Modi) noted that the India-US partnership is firmly anchored in a shared commitment to democratic values and common strategic interests.”

The divergence in wording, while not uncommon in diplomatic parlance, would indicate Biden’s remarks were a veiled reference to the collapse of democracy in India under Modi. Biden is a former chairman of the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee and has through his nearly 50-year career as an elected politician cultivated international affairs as a specialisation. He is therefore adept at delicately yet quite clearly conveying his sentiment.

The MEA is clever enough to have cottoned on. It surmised that “a shared commitment to democratic values” being the “bedrock” of the bilateral relationship probably expressed concern about the internal situation in India. So, by phrasing the partnership as being “firmly anchored” in a shared commitment to democratic values, it signalled the two sides were equally committed to democratic values.

It could be argued: who is Biden to cast aspersions on India after the lawless and undemocratic example set by his predecessor Donald Trump in the past four years? Biden can however reply he has always represented the opposite and now fought against and defeated the cancer. He is therefore morally not unentitled to worrying about India.

Modi has abandoned India’s tried and tested policy of pluralist multi-alignment. He has carelessly tilted towards Washington. Biden is of course at home with this. The White House readout mentioned: “The leaders agreed to continuing close cooperation to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific, including support for freedom of navigation, territorial integrity, and a stronger regional architecture through the Quad (the US, India, Japan and Australia alliance).”


That essentially means resisting China’s expansionist tendencies. It also suggests India should render the US’s bidding in the Indo-Pacific. From an Indian standpoint, both are problematic. Regardless of China’s power, tackling it bilaterally and independent of the US denies Beijing the grouse that New Delhi is ganging up with others against it. It is also likely to pay greater dividends, as it did during the Manmohan Singh prime ministership.

The White House readout also revealed Biden and Modi “further resolved that the rule of law and the democratic process must be upheld in Burma (Myanmar)”. This followed a US State Department background briefing that America is consulting with Japan and India in Asia to find a way of opposing the military coup d’etat in Myanmar. Here, too, India needs to put self-interest before serving Washington’s objective.

The forcible eviction of State Counsellor (or prime minister) Aung San Suu Kyi – overwhelmingly re-elected in November - from office is undoubtedly unacceptable; and the MEA has rightly said so. But propping up Suu Kyi against the junta in the late 1980s and early 1990s resulted in an upsurge of violent separatist activity in India’s north-east, orchestrated by Myanmar (which borders the region) and China. Indeed, the insurrectionists found sanctuary in Myanmar and were reportedly supplied Chinese arms.

After containing the generals with a charm offensive, the Singh government reached out to Suu Kyi as soon as it became apparent she was going to lead Myanmar’s administration. But the Modi regime failed to capitalise on Singh’s initiative. Now he must tread carefully. Myanmar, like China, is thousands of miles away from the US, but next door to India. A resurgence of militancy in the north-east – which never really ceased – will additionally burden India’s rather stretched financial and security resources.

Modi’s hugging of Trump didn’t extract any critical benefits for India. The US is not known to have raised China’s violations of the Line of Actual Control with Beijing. Now the new US Secretary of State Antony Blinken when speaking to China’s Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Yang Jiechi on 5 February stressed the US “will continue to stand up for human rights and democratic values, including in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong”. He also reaffirmed the US will work with its allies “to hold the PRC (People’s Republic of China) accountable for its efforts to threaten stability in the Indo-Pacific, including across the Taiwan Strait”. There was no reference to Chinese belligerence vis-à-vis India.

Modi has woven before the Indian public a fanciful yarn that because of his efforts India has become exceptionally important to the US. This is hardly the way Washington perceives it. Biden in a speech on America’s place in the world at the State Department on 4 February cited as the US’s “closest friends” Canada, Mexico, the UK, Germany, France, NATO, Japan, South Korea and Australia. India did not figure in this list.

Given that the US today considers India to be comparatively an ally, it has predictably been gentle in its response to the Indian farmers’ agitation against farm laws enacted by Modi. But the fact that the US State Department spokesman did not brush it off as an internal matter, but instead chose to comment is noteworthy. Recognising “peaceful protests are a hallmark of any thriving democracy” unmistakably underlined unhappiness.

Barbed wires, concrete barriers, iron nails, lathi charges, water cannons, tear gas, discharge of live ammunition, suspension of internet connections and a restriction of free movement have confronted the demonstrating Indian farmers; and duplicity in the name of a dialogue. This reflects a totalitarian state, not a democracy. Trump turned a blind eye to Modi’s misdemeanours. It will be a mistake for the pracharak to take Biden – no matter how well meaning he fundamentally is towards India - for granted.

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