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Dinner Diplomacy and Indian
Americans
Dr. Amrik Singh,
Sacramento
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Indo American community’s time is either spent in securing US
visa for discredited leaders like Gujarat CM Narendra Modi or
celebrating the Independence Day by flaunting Indian tricolor in
the face of some who underline the other bigger reality on the
one side of the street. Indo-Americans have never joined heads
to tell modern politicians of India what early pioneers had
dreamt about their country. |
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 President
Barack Obama’s first State dinner in honor of Indian Prime Minister
Dr. Manmohan Singh on November 24, 2009 became a star attraction of
worldwide media. Besides people of fame and the pageantry
surrounding the event, the sight of the first lady in a hand woven
silky gown from India compelled the fashion industry to alter
meanings of beauty. Party crashers jolted not only the secret
service, but also exposed how vulnerable the president and prime
minister were to the captivating charms of a lady in the red sari.
However, one can safely say all is well that ends well. For
Indo-American community, the honor was historic as well as a
productive achievement.
Indo-American
partnership in the emerging global leadership was never as strategic
as it is today. Owing to the history of more than a hundred years,
Indo-American community has been playing a significant role in
restructuring of international relations. Early pioneers, who set
foot on this land, brought with them their culture of hard work,
spirit of sharing, human rights’ awareness, and commitment to the
best thought and practiced in the world. American Revolution had
fired their imagination and they embarked on a mission to free their
land from the British occupation. The efforts of less than five
thousand people in 1913-1914 had international implications. The
British colonialists lobbied to secure United States’ military
support to suppress German alliance in World War I. The English
succeeded in getting American Foreign policy amended accordingly and
held San Francisco conspiracy trials in 1917 to prosecute activists
of Ghadar movement and their German allies. Scholars view Americans’
uncritical tilt towards the United Kingdom in 1917, as a major
drawback of their foreign policy.
 Ghadar
created a culture in which freedom of spirit became necessary.
Efforts of early pioneers continued until after the World War II. A
battle for American citizenship was won a few months before India
got freedom. Earlier, United States had bluntly told the British to
negotiate with Indians about granting their freedom. The British
duplicity, however, was exposed as they tried to influence President
Roosevelt’s decision against freedom of India. A confidential memo
by Ambassador William Phillips, the US special envoy to India in
1943, had created a media sensation as its leakage bewildered the US
State Department, and frustrated the British efforts in maligning
freedom fighters. The story in Washington Post was path breaking for
activists of Indian freedom. It came to light that the President
Roosevelt had made British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to
consider questions of withdrawal from India and form an interim
government until the complete withdrawal. The US had advanced such
an argument for India’s full participation in war efforts.
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Is India
ready for this role?
As India
grows as a more important ally in the US scheme of things, New
Delhi will also realize to its utter chagrin that it also makes
the country more vulnerable to criticism on the human rights
front. That price will be a very heavy one for India to pay when
it will find that the world has become aware of how it
consistently denied to the Sikhs the minimum semblance of
justice even when thousands were killed in its national capital
as per the government’s own data, most burnt to death and that
this massacre was led by ruling party leaders who were later
rewarded with plum posts and even a Union Ministership in none
other than Manmohan Singh cabinet. Justice loving Americans will
ask tough questions, and India better be prepared. (Excerpts
from WSN’s coverage of Prez Obama’s visit.) |
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Harold A.
Gould’s book “Sikhs, Swamis, Students, and Spies: The Indian
Lobby in the United States, 1900-1946” highlights how seeds of
freedom sown by Punjabi pioneers grew into so big a campaign as to
make the US presidents plead their cause from 1943-1946. The
ethno-demographic base of these early pioneers, according to Gould,
was “a mélange of South Asians who had found their way to the United
States by diverse routes. They were scattered all across the country
but, as noted, the bulk of them at first were concentrated on the
Pacific coast, in California, Oregon and the state of Washington.
Most were Sikhs but there were also Hindus and Muslims plus a few
Parsi Zorastrian and Indian Christians as well.”
A few thousands
have grown into a mass of 2.7 millions. Their influence is seen in
almost every field of American life. Congressman Dalip Singh Saund
brought laurels to the community in 1950’s; Governor Bobby Jindal of
Louisiana and Mayor Kashmir Singh Gill are heroes of today. The
social, economic and political clout has increased many times. But
something is missing that early pioneers had in abundance: their
commitment to serve the country of their origin according to the
best ideals of human potential. Today, Indo-Americans sequester
themselves in mutually exclusive groups and take refuge in their own
superiority.
It appears as if
they have no regard for those who kissed noose in the hope of a
dream for their country. Early pioneers like Kartar Singh Sarabha
wanted nothing except an honorable place in their countrymen’s
memory. Their dream never translated into reality. Rather its murder
was celebrated on the intervening night of August 14th &
15th 1947. No lessons were learned from blood that
streamed in the Indus through its five tributaries. A fence was
again erected. Seeds of poison on both sides have grown into a
bumper crop. Both sides want to profit from it, but marketing skills
of the one are the ruin of the other.
Indo-American
community is afraid to go back to the roots. All efforts end in
frustration as very few share pioneers’ vision. Indo American
community’s time is either spent in securing US visa for discredited
leaders like Gujrat CM Narendra Modi or celebrating the
Independence Day by flaunting Indian tricolor in the face of some
who underline the other bigger reality on the one side of the
street.
People who might
have emotional ties with such events have to participate in a
different way. Black flags in their hands are questions that
remained unanswered for one quarter of a century. Indo-Americans
have never joined heads to tell modern politicians of India what
early pioneers had dreamt about their country.
Why Amnesty
International has to write to President Obama to speak to the Indian
Prime Minister about what happened in November, 1984? Why couldn’t
Indo-American community question Prime Minister to invoke law of the
land against perpetrators of mass murders? Any step in this
direction would have honored those who paid the price of their lives
to just secure a place in the collective memory.
The red carpet
welcome to India’s Prime Minister has undoubtedly provided a
momentary relief from painful memories of November. Dr. Singh
expressed his confidence in President Obama’s leadership in
operationalizing Civil Nuclear Deal he entered with former President
George W. Bush. He also resolved to jointly end terrorism that
threatened the civilized world. President Obama expressed that Al
Qaeda’s effectiveness had to be dismantled. While welcoming Dr.
Singh, President Obama used Hindi greetings and mentioned
celebration of Guru Nanak’s birthday in the White house. He also
honored M.K. Gandhi and Martin Luther King in fighting for civil
rights of the downtrodden. United States sought India’s partnership
in educational exchange, knowledge initiatives, intelligence sharing
and fight against infectious diseases.
Obama-Singh
negotiations have been described as meeting of minds. Obama’s joint
statement with China had created feverish nervousness in Indian
circles. Doubts were expressed about a halfhearted treatment to the
Indian Prime Minister. But the glitz, glamour and gaiety at the
party have squashed all premature reactions.
The mood at the
First banquet was celebratory as well as thought provoking. Obama’s
presidency seems to be all set to follow a crucial path of making
the world a friendlier place. The president asserted that United
States stood committed to work with India for a better world. The
lavish American hospitality to the Indian PM would have upset China,
had Obama not made it to Beijing earlier. In that case, it would
have some serious consequences for the struggling economy of the
United States as China is a tremendous partner in all efforts for
recovery and growth.
2
December 2009
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