Over the last few decades, this writer has closely studied the working, modus operandi and driving ethos of the epicentre of our country’s governing apparatus. This, of course, is the Raisina Hill, named rather grandiosely by our former Anglo-Saxon rulers, to remember their cultural icons as they toiled in Delhi’s dust and heat to rule the Crown Jewel in their “Empah”.
For many years, until recently, anyone who worked in the corporate sector in the capital had to, perforce, get to know Raisina Hill. This was particularly true for at least five decades from the1950s onwards, when the country was run (and ruined) by the ubiquitous Licence Raj. Industry and business had to contend with an intricate system of laws, controls, permits, sanctions and restrictions. All the official ministries and agencies that implemented and monitored this intricate maze were located on Raisina Hill or in the immediate neighbourhood. Hence, they were all lumped under the former appellation.
This writer distinctly recalls those halcyon days when anyone whose office was in this hallowed area of the capital acquired a formidable status by default. From the senior-most functionaries like ministers and the upper crust of the bureaucracy, the denizens of the Hill were in a class by itself. The dividing line, albeit informally stipulated, as happens in all social classifications, was the Joint-Secretary. However, below the cut-off line, right down to the humble, photocopying assistant, each person had his/her importance. This is a separate subject that needs to be assessed on its own.
In this essay, I will concentrate on the Ministry of External Affairs (in South Block on the Hill) and its Indian Foreign Service (IFS) mandarins, because they will be the primary foot-soldiers in the campaign to establish a rapport with the new team in Pennsylvania Avenue and the Capitol Hill. The close relationship between the Trump Administration and the Government of India (GoI) was, course, helmed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the Indian side and the entire GoI machinery was involved. However, the regular functioning and monitoring of this alliance was done by the MEA and its IFS corps. It is this same bunch which will now primarily have the unenviable and critical task of working with the Biden-Harris team and ensuring that Indo-American ties are kept intact, if not improved.
The basic job of the Indian team would be to erase four years of the Trump era and establish a bridge with the Democrats who have had much more to share with India on the cultural and ideological levels in the last seven decades. Some of the new trumpet-blowers in the current nationalist camp in India conveniently forget that it was the Democratic administration under President Roosevelt that warned Churchill and the British government during the Second World War years that they should not delay the grant of Independence to India.
Furthermore, just after our Independence in 1947, when Democratic President Truman was in the White House, it was the visionary Democratic Senator Fulbright who set up scholarships to enable generations of Indian students to study in the best American universities. These Fulbright Scholars, as they were known, came back to India and were instrumental in building the IITs, the IIMs and other renowned research centres.
Finally, we should not forget two decisive events where the watershed between Democrats and Republicans in their Indian policy stance was demarcated. It was a Democratic leadership under Kennedy that provided India with critical military assistance after the suicidal China policies of Nehru and Menon rebounded on us in 1962. In sharp contrast, it was the Republican regime under President Nixon and Kissinger that sent the US 7th Fleet to the Bay of Bengal in 1971, when the Bangladesh liberation war was at its most critical juncture.
The nationalist think tanks on Delhi’s Ashoka Road and Rouse Avenue, as well as in Nagpur, should be well aware of these landmarks in history. Irrespective of what some desi agitprop circles are declaiming, the Biden-Harris team does not have an intrinsic anti-Indian mindset, as they prepare to start their four-year stint in power. The reality is quite different.
In his July 2013 visit to India, when Biden was Vice-President, he emphasised to his Indian counterparts that he did not see a contradiction between a country’s commitment to autonomy and its decision to have a strategic partnership with another nation. This was a clear recognition of India’s policy stand for many decades.
In the current scenario, India and America could strive to forge a meaningful partnership to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and also work on partnerships in the areas of security, climate control and pollution. There are other examples of multilateral action that Trump cavalierly chose to abandon, including support to the WHO, from where he belligerently walked out a few months ago.
With Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, the feelings are euphoric for the vast majority of Indians, except for the fringe lot. Yes, Harris did make some unfortunate observations on the CAA, Article 370 and allied matters a few months earlier. That is largely because the Indian public relations machinery overseas, spearheaded by our Embassies and Consulates, did a very poor job in projecting our legitimate and justifiable policies. I will come back to this issue a little later.
Before that, I will remind the readers that Harris did more than enough in the last few days to remind her electorate and the overall American population about how proud she was of her two heritages, Indian and Jamaican. This should have been more than sufficient for all of us to realise that Harris has never abandoned her Indian roots and continues to be committed to her patrimony.
Now I come to my last concern about the absolute necessity of launching a highly-sophisticated and carefully-structured effort to bring the Biden-Harris team to appreciate India’s stand on vital issues. This will not be an easy task by any standards, after the high-decibel rhapsodies for Trump in official Delhi in the last four years. South Block and the IFS lot need to draw on the expertise of the entire GoI machinery and others outside babudom to carry out this assignment successfully.
After all, our IFS mandarins still haven’t got around to removing the grand portrait in South Block of Olaf Caroe, the archetypal imperialist. The country surely cannot be confident that this lot will have the necessary mental wherewithal to tackle the American whiz kids in the Democratic Party, whose memories of the last four years of the songs we sang may be difficult to overcome. Mere theatre and shadow-boxing in Raisina Hill will not suffice.
The writer is an analyst in corporate laws, business policies and political affairs, based in Delhi.