Bush in India
The American President’s recent trip to India has marked a new high in the Indo-American relations. The news reports suggests that the president had a good time visiting India, He charmed the leaders and the CEOs that he has come in contact with during his trip, Even the farmers of the rural Andhra were mesmerised by the ability of the world’s most powerful man to mingle freely and joke around with them.
The nuclear energy deal that was signed during Geroge Bush’s visit to India is the first step in the right direction for both the countries. Obviously, India stands to benefit immediately more from this deal than US. This deal, if materialised would decrease the country’s dependence on the foriegn oil and address the growing energy needs of the country more efficiently. Energy is clearly one of the key elements required to sustain and advance India’s growing economy.
There are hurdles that need to be crossed to make this deal a reality, Bush has to convince the US congress that this deal is in the good interest of not only India but also United States.Economically stable India with 300 mil strong middleclass population and growing is strong base for many US businesses. The Indian government needs to convince the parliament that India stands to benefit greatly from this deal. The later might sound as an easy task for most of the people but those who follow the Indian politics know it to be otherwise. The ruling congress party in India depends on the left parties for its existence in power and it will be a challenge for them to convince their allies to support the energy deal.
I was glad to see that India has agreed for seperation of civilian and military nuclear facilities. Although this seems to be a nobrainer, this is a big step for the usually hyper paranoid Indian bureaucracy and politicians.
Lastly, I did not understand the rationale behind the protests that were organised by certain religious factions during Bush’s visit. Stating you disagreement towards a political policy is one thing and organising protests and fuelling riots for apparently no good reason is very irresponsible.We’ll have to wait and see , if these great leaders who "reperesent the poor masses of India" refuse to accept the electricity generated through one of the new nuclear power plants to light up their ultra posh mansions. -C
Well said. In spite of what pseudo-secular lefty pinko ‘intellectuals’ may say about George W, W does have a genuine commitment to the emergence of India as a global democratic power. This stems from his belief that global democracy is the best defender of long term American commercial and security interests. Previous US Presidents either lacked this commitment , or were frustrated with India’s pre-1991 non-aligned status (which basically meant that Indian diplomats supported the Soviet Union whenever it invaded countries like Hungary, Afghanistan, etc but would never hesitate criticize the US).
The recent changes in the contours of the Indo-US leadership are not just a tribute to George W (and to a much smaller extent Bill Cllinton), but to the vision of people like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Jaswant Singh and Manmohan Singh who had the political courage to break away from the previous non-aligned norms and instead concentrated on letting India occupy her rightful place as a proud , influential democratic , powerful country in the comity of nations.
The fact that Manmohan decided to remove a left winger (Natwwar Singh) from the External Affairs ministry did not make matters worse, either.
Howevevr our pinko, pseudo-secular leftists are too bogged dongwn in vote-bank politics and harmful ideologies to see anything positive about anything that will help India become a stronger force (either militarily or economically). They would rather organize bank strikes , shutdown airports ,incite communal passions, and organize poetry contests in praise of Stalin.
Comment by AS-BGOD — March 4, 2006 @ 8:35 pm