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Hillary Clinton woos
India
By Siddharth Srivastava
NEW DELHI - For all those who think that
Hillary Clinton isn't gearing up for the US
presidential elections circa 2008, they would do
well to take a peep at her recent visit to India.
She wasn't here as the wife of ex-president Bill
Clinton, well known for enjoying India having
visited the country several times as president,
meanwhile charming a whole lot of Indians.
Hillary was in New Delhi last week in her
own right as New York senator and as a person whom
India sees as playing an important role in global
politics and economics in the near future. She may
deny that she aspires to be the Democratic nominee
for president and says she is looking forward to
standing for re-election to New York in 2006, but
the rest of the world (including India) certainly
does not perceive her in this light.
Despite busy schedules, including
elections to three states and a natural disaster
in Jammu & Kashmir to manage, Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh and the all-powerful Congress Party
president Sonia Gandhi marked out time for
Hillary, who was accompanied by US ambassador to
India David Mulford to a number of meetings. An
official reception was hosted for her by the
Indian government, while she also addressed a
conclave of world leaders organized by a leading
national magazine. She was followed around by the
media, not to cut a decent picture of her for the
glossies, but for her views on India-US relations,
including burgeoning economic ties, as well as her
strict adherence to the principles of free trade
and outsourcing that affect India directly.
Undoubtedly, the highlight of her visit was the
hour-long meeting with Gandhi. The two women
placed third (Gandhi) and fifth on the list of the
most powerful women in the world prepared by
Forbes last year. Everybody, at least in India,
expects Hillary to make the dash in 2008 that
would surely pitchfork her onto the top position
of any list.
During her meeting with
Gandhi, Hillary discussed at length the
socio-economic issues of both countries. "Both the
leaders assessed the growth of India-US ties from
[Bill] Clinton's time and how far it progressed.
They have also reviewed the socio-economic
situation prevailing in the country," a statement
said. "It was a nice meeting and both enjoyed it,"
said an aide to the Indian prime minister
following her discussions with Manmohan. "They
talked about healthcare, education, India-US
relations and South Asia. It was a wide-ranging
discussion," the aide said. Manmohan told the New
York senator that the Indian people fondly
remembered the visit by her husband in March 2000.
This marked a "turning point in India-US
relations", the prime minister said, and recalled
the "warm welcome your husband received" when he
addressed the Indian parliament. Clinton said her
husband "greatly enjoyed" visiting India and was
deeply committed to the HIV/AIDS program the
Clinton Foundation had undertaken in this country.
Even as Hillary left India, Democratic
Senator Joseph Biden issued the clarion call that
any Democrat who wants to run for president in
2008 should keep in mind these three words:
Hillary Rodham Clinton. "I think she'd be
incredibly difficult to beat," Biden said on US
television. "I think she is the most difficult
obstacle for anyone being the nominee. She'd be
the toughest person and I think Hillary Clinton is
able to be elected president of the United
States."
It may be recalled that former
president Bill Clinton enjoyed close ties to the
Indian American community during his presidency.
It was he who first actively sought to build
bridges as well as cultivate the Indian community
in the US, recognizing their numbers - more than 2
million - as well as their immense money-power
(read potential campaign fund contributors) as
global information technology pioneers.
India's relations with the US were by and
large on the ascent under Clinton. Post
presidency, Clinton has been closely associated
with the American India Foundation and visited
India in 2001, as head of an Indian delegation to
collect funds for victims of the Gujarat
earthquake. There was considerable talk at that
time as well that the Clinton visit was a
well-orchestrated plan to cultivate the Indian
American community to keep them warm for Hillary
if the need arose. The 2004 US elections also
witnessed Indian-Americans reaching out to
Republican George W Bush as a reaction to the
virulent anti-outsourcing campaign being
orchestrated by former Democratic presidential
candidate John Kerry.
Further, given the
strides that Indo-US relations have taken under
Bush, politically, economically and militarily,
the Indian community felt much more comfortable in
maintaining this continuity. Bush has himself
indicated his pro-India proclivities by promising
that he will visit the country this year. Hillary
surely does not want to lose the momentum built by
her husband and wants to arrest any decisive turn
by Indian Americans towards the Republicans.
Hillary clears outsourcing
air
Hillary Clinton made it apparent where
she stood on outsourcing during her India visit,
in an attempt perhaps to clear the Indian
misgivings received during the Kerry campaign.
"There is no way to legislate against reality.
Outsourcing will continue," she told an audience
of Indian big-wigs. She pointed out that there
were 3 billion people who feel left behind and are
trying to attack the modern world in the hope of
turning the clock back on globalization. "It is
not far-fetched to imagine ... if the Indian
miracle would be the one of choice of those who
feel left behind," said Hillary.
Hillary
has been at the forefront in defending free trade
and outsourcing. During the height of the
anti-outsourcing backlash in the US last year, she
faced considerable flak for defending Indian
software giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for
opening a center in Buffalo, New York. "We are not
against all outsourcing; we are not in favor of
putting up fences," Hillary said firmly, despite
inevitably invoking the ire of the anti-free trade
brigade.
Hillary further clarified her
position during her recent visit as well as
solutions that could be beneficial to both
countries. She urged Indian industries to invest
more in the US to allay negative outpourings over
outsourcing of American jobs to India. "I have to
be frank. People in my country are losing their
jobs and the US policymakers need to address this
issue," she said. She ruled out that the
anti-India feeling was a reflexive reaction, and
explained that the feeling was more because of the
imbalance in trade between the two countries,
which in turn caused anguish among Americans about
the nature of the economic relationship.
"In 2003, US merchandise exports to India
was $5 billion, while India exports to the US was
$13.8 billion. Though the US understood that the
economic vibrancy of India was in its own
interest, there are people who feel left behind
and might stir up negative feelings against India
because they do not understand the economic
benefits of outsourcing," Clinton remarked.
"If the feeling was to be arrested, Indian
companies should invest more in the US to create a
balance in trade relations," she said. Hillary
added that she had personally wooed Indian
companies to establish partnerships with American
counterparts. "In June 2002, TCS partnered with
the University of Buffalo to bring patented
research to the market place. I would like to see
more of such partnerships," she said.
Siddharth Srivastava is a New
Delhi-based journalist.
(Copyright
2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.
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