The recent polemics between former US President Barack Obama and some Indian leaders were both unnecessary and misplaced against the backdrop of an epochal and substantive State visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the United States.
Let us begin with the casus belli. On 22 June, Mr Obama said the following in an interview on CNN, "The protection of the Muslim minority in a majority Hindu India, that is something worth mentioning…. If you do not protect the rights of ethnic minorities in India, then there is a strong possibility that India at some point starts pulling apart."
His remarks were faithful to the longstanding Americanism “Do as I say –not as I do.”
Obama and The 'Black Lives Matter' Movement
The United States – where the last black mob-lynching case was within the past 100 years – had very high expectations from Mr Obama, its first black president, to heal the longstanding racial tensions. However, to quote the same CNN on 29 April 2015, “Obama has mostly come up short, often leaving his supporters wanting more and his adversaries blaming him for exacerbating age-old conflicts.” He made a scant difference to the situation and his era was roiled with recurrence of the police brutality against its black citizens.
The “Black Lives Matter” movement was born during Obama's presidency and gained strength as the distrust of police rose. A survey by the New York Times published on 13 July 2016 when racial discontent rose to “its highest point in the Obama presidency” and at the highest since 1992 race riots. When asked “whether the police in most communities are more likely to use deadly force against a black person than a white person”, no less than three-quarters of African-Americans answered "yes.”
Evidently, while they have a threat perception from an angry white supremacist mob, they feel more threatened by the local police deemed biased against them and are often armed with military-grade equipment and "shoot first, investigate later” dictum.
Despite much vaunted ObamaCare, his era made no difference to the disproportionate number of blacks in jails and a skewed welfare state. Consequently, he is ill-equipped to lecture India on minority protection. A former president of such a country should not have the gall to tell a democracy nearly four times bigger about issues of minority protection.
Moreover, as the originator of the "Pivot Asia” doctrine, he should have realised that the bilateral dynamic in the seven years since he left the White House has moved towards India and now Washington needs Delhi at least as much as vice versa.
The US Is Not a Role Model for Protecting Its Ethnic Minorities
Even in the economic domain, some minorities have done less well in the US as is evident from several matrices. In particular, of 724 American billionaires, only 10 are black and 4 are Muslims. Robert F Smith, the richest black American is worth only USD 8 billion, or one-thirtieth of Elon Musk at USD 240 billion. Only four of the black billionaires are entrepreneurs, rest six of them made their billions from media and sports – which are supposedly more level playing fields. In comparison, Azim Premji, the richest Indian Muslim worth USD 24 billion and is the fifth richest in the country.
Despite decades of Affirmative Action and ethnic diversity campaigns in the US, Hispanics, and blacks, on average, earned 28.5% and 22% less than the median income of whites and this gap has remained largely unchanged during the last decade.
Objectively speaking, it is arguable if the plight of the blacks, Hispanics and Muslims in the US is any better than, say, Muslims in India. India does have issues of inter-communal tensions and vigilantism, but police and the local authorities are mostly above board on this account. Moreover, prevailing identity politics, vociferous social media and its impact on India’s close ties with the Gulf and other Islamic countries put a cap on such tendencies and protracted communal riots have become relatively infrequent.
All the above points are probably better and more effective ammunition than the pyrotechnics used by our wolf warriors who focused on Obama’s middle name and his bombing of six Muslim-majority countries. There are several downsides to such arguments.
Future of Indo-US Ties Is More Important Than Pyrotechnics
Obama has publicly clarified that despite having Hussein as his Middle Name, he is a Christian. Therefore, such personal attacks are not only incorrect but also below the belt. A Head of State has to use force at his disposal according to the specific threat perception and not based on the religion of his deemed adversary country. Thus, the bombing of six Muslim countries was more in defence of the perceived US interests than anti-Muslim. Further, the incumbent of the White House Joe Biden was vice president during eight years of Obama's presidency and the two still enjoy good interpersonal ties.
In fact, Obama’s pitching in for candidate Joe Biden was critical to his victory in a hard-fought election in 2020 against Donald Trump. Biden's presidency is often seen as a continuum of Obama-era policies.
So, vituperations against Mr Obama may have been an avoidable distraction to the unprecedented positivity of bilateral synergy. Lastly, even China, with Superpower pretensions, has realised that ultra-nationalist diatribes by the wolf warrior diplomats are often counterproductive and has toned it down.
In conclusion, the author would like to offer two adages by two national leaders with their countries on an ascendent trajectory, a situation akin to India right now. First, by US President Theodore Roosevelt in the early 1900s goes as "Speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." Second, by Deng Xiaoping in the 1990s said: "Hide your strength, bide your time.” These two countries followed these pieces of advice, avoided unnecessary distractions and gained global stature and eco-political strength – until hubris set in. It would be useful for all stakeholders in the US and India to heed the merit of these pearls of wisdom and eschew the search for an elusive moral high ground.
(The author was an Indian Ambassador to Algeria, Norway and Nigeria. He is currently the President of Eco-Diplomacy & Strategies, a Delhi-based consultancy. This is an opinion piece. The views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)