Obama comes down on side of Singh, Sen and socialism in debate about poverty

Chidanand Rajghatta, TNN | Sep 28, 2013, 05.22 PM IST
NEW YORK: Derided by critics as a servitor and doormat when it comes to domestic politics, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has repeatedly shown that he can hold his own when it comes to international relations — bar, some commentators feel, when it comes to Pakistan. On Friday, Singh pushed back against the United States on many fronts, quite perceptively persuading President Obama to accept his view on at least two issues.
The first was the trade and commerce relationship between the two sides that has hit a rough patch lately. Ahead of Singh's visit, US lawmakers and lobbyists acted in tandem to pile up a laundry list of complaints against New Delhi, drumming up a steady refrain that India was reverting to its socialist tendencies, particularly in the light of increased social safety net spending, and setting up roadblocks against foreign (read American) businesses.

Singh was unapologetic about the road he has chosen, telling the US President that "India is a poor country" and his government's basic task is to improve the standard of living of its people and getting rid of mass poverty, ignorance and disease which still afflict millions. "And in that struggle, we want America to stand by our side," Singh said, with Obama seated beside him. He further added that "in the President, the United States has a leader who realizes and recognizes the contribution that a resurgent India can make not only to fighting poverty, but also to global peace and prosperity."

The argument for pro-poor policies evidently made an impression on Obama, who has himself been dubbed a closet socialist. Despite pressure from domestic trade groups, US president did not push back with the counter-argument presented by many economists — most evident in the Bhagwati vs Sen debate in India — that taking care of growth rate is a better way of lifting the poor out of poverty than dole and subsidies.

"India continues to grow at an amazing rate, but as Prime Minister Singh indicates, obviously there are a lot of people in India that are still trapped in poverty," Obama said, seeming to agree with the Manmohan Singh-Amartya Sen-Jean Dreze prescription. "His primary priority has been to alleviate that poverty and give all the people of India opportunity. And we want to make sure that we're strong partners in helping him to realize that vision, because we believe that if there's a strong India that that's good for the world and it's ultimately good for the US."

The other issue where Singh pushed back publicly was Pakistan, where many domestic commentators contend that he has been soft, in part because of sentimental reasons and in part due to US pressure. After Obama spoke of their shared interest in seeing a peaceful reduction of tensions on the subcontinent and thanked the Prime Minister "for what has been a consistent interest in improving cooperation between India and Pakistan," Singh lit into the issue, telling the US President of the "difficulties that we face given the fact that the epicenter of terror still remains focused in Pakistan."

Although he looked forward to meeting with President Nawaz Sharif in New York, he said "expectations have to be toned down given the terror arm which is still active in our subcontinent."

The Indian side reportedly took up this issue strongly during the dialogue in the context of the latest terrorist attack in Jammu & Kashmir and the Pakistan's continued patronage of and payouts to terrorist outfits from public funds, eliciting a commitment from the US side that President Obama will take up the matter with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in a frank manner when the latter visits Washington on October 23. The US itself is yet to figure out whether the Pakistani establishment has genuinely re-set its jihadi orientation.

In any case, the exchanges made it almost certain that Singh's meeting with Sharif in New York over the weekend is reduced to a "cap and rollback terrorism" message, although the latter continued to press Pakistan's interest in his UN speech, saying the suffering of the Kashmiri people cannot be brushed under the carpet.

But insofar as US-India is concerned, in public at least, there was no sign of the American hectoring — particularly on trade and commerce — that was expected ahead of the White House engagement given the sour mood on the Hill and on K street in the preceding weeks. Whether it is because of President Obama's very evident deference to the 81-year old prime minister or whether Washington wants to give India breathing space till after its general election is hard to say.