The Global Dada is livid: How dare a poor, semi-literate country, that till a few decades ago lived a ship-to-mouth existence, waiting for vessels carrying food grain under the Pl 480 charity scheme, to dock in Mumbai to feed its hungry population, indulge in tit-for-tat with the sole superpower! The US has acted similarly with countless Indians-diplomats and non-diplomats.
Not only Indians but non-European people have faced Uncle Sam’s wrath regularly and frequently. Except for the Chinese, of whom Americans are afraid, the rest of the so-called Third World has been treated like sub-humans. But the muted reaction of these countries in the past led to Washington’s conviction that as ex-colonial people, we are reconciled to being awe-struck by America’s military and economic might and must acquiesce in our humiliation at their hands.
Armed with his complacent conviction, US authorities thought they had the unfettered right to handcuff a young Indian diplomat, arrest in a public place, followed by strip-searching, DNA swab collection and slamming her in a cell with drug addicts and other hardened criminals. After all, Devyani Khobragade is merely an Indian; so what if she is a diplomat and entitled to certain rights and courtesies by virtue of the position she holds; so what, if she is mother to two young childrenIJ If the children have been traumatised by their mother’s arrest from outside their school, so whatIJ They are mere Indians, after all.
Although, prima facie, the accusations levelled against Ms Khobragade and the abominable behaviour of the US authorities constitute serious violations of international standards of diplomatic conduct and fly in the face of the Vienna Convention, this is not the place to debate the merits of the case. Suffice to say, the Americans hatched a conspiracy with the family of Devyani’s maid, Sangeeta Richards and her husband to malign and trap Indian diplomats. The maid’s family was an accomplice because Washington was ready to help them attain their fundamental objective: That of being legally accorded rights of residence in the US.
Both in print and on TV, American lackeys of Indian origin in that country and here, are crying hoarse over the alleged violation of human rights. They are volubly defending the absurd claim that the immigration-seeking maid was underpaid. This ignores the fact that she had voluntarily entered into a contract with her employer and as her diary entries reveal, had no grievances whatsoever against Ms Khobragade or her family. Obviously, she was tutored to run away from their home and then level these charges once assured that her illegal migration to the US would be facilitated in exchange for putting the Indian diplomat in the dock.
The US is a notoriously self-serving and arrogant world power that also suffers selective amnesia. It hardly behoves the American authorities to shed copious crocodile tears over alleged violation of human rights when memories of Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib prison and wanton killings in Afghanistan are fresh in people’s minds. Mass murders of Vietnamese children through Napalm bombs are barely a few decades old. The US has always courted and helped fatten a series of latin American dictators whom Pablo Neruda referred to in his celebrated poem United Fruit Company as “Batista flies Trujillo flies…” and others of their ilk like Haiti’s Papa Doc. Washington, therefore, has little moral ground to preach civil rights to the world. Their deafening silence on Chinese atrocities in Tibet and Xinjiang while constantly haranguing India over Kashmir, demonstrates yet again Washington’s carefully chosen concerns and duplicitous policies.
While not defending violation of human rights anywhere in the world, it must be pointed out that there can be no such case against the Indian diplomat. If anybody is at fault, it is the family of her former domestic help for their sly and unethical behaviour. A modern-day Uncle Tom, who goes by the name Preet Inder Bharara has exposed his ignorance and rusticity that only ill-informed Americans are capable of, by claiming that the maid’s family had to be “evacuated” from India, as if this country were a 1950s Soviet Union or today’s Somalia. By his disgraceful display of a biased, “more loyal than the king” attitude, the Attorney has lost all claim to preside over the case.
Having said that it must, however, be hoped that saner counsel eventually prevail in Washington as it involves the relationship between two biggest democracies of the world. Moreover, the US is a country which Atal Bihari Vajpayee once rightly described as India’s “natural ally”. Unfortunately, the US Administration has adopted an uncompromising stand, repeatedly demonstrating adamancy bordering on hostility. India’s legitimate demand for an apology for the shocking behaviour of the police authorities and intolerant remarks of Administration personnel has further intensified the stand-off and caused domestic opinion in India to bay for even stronger measures against American diplomats than have already been put in place. Why American authorities’ developed a misplaced concern for the duplicitous maid and readily accepted the fabricated suggestions of NGOs that India has an appalling human rights record, is bewildering indeed.
Well-meaning people in America must convince their arrogant officials to look inwards after this standoff. Why is it that America has so few friends despite being the mightiest power in the worldIJ Why is it that the picture of the “Ugly American” remains indelible from the minds of Third World peopleIJ On the contrary, despite its abysmal record of exploitation of conquered countries, Britain has corrected its image in the post-colonial era and is looked upon as a friend by most of its erstwhile colonies. One major reason is America’s duplicity. Recently, a member of the American diplomatic staff in Nairobi rammed his speeding SUV into a bus on the streets of the Kenyan capital, killing the sole breadwinner of a poor family. The US Embassy in Kenya quietly smuggled the guilty man out of that country so that he incurs no liability. Americans have been brought up to believe that they are God’s Chosen People, responsible for determining right and wrong in the world. Naturally, it follows that laws that apply to all other countries and their people don’t apply to “God”!
India is better placed than most to rid the US of this delusion. An emerging economic power and the world’s second largest market, it holds many levers to pressure America, especially its business community which dreads losing opportunities in India. Much to everyone’s surprise, the supine Manmohan Singh, hitherto believed to catch a cold whenever America sneezed, seems to be showing the first signs of growing a few bones in his vertebrae. We can only hope he stands firm and encourages the suddenly tough-talking External Affairs Minister to fulfil his pledge to Parliament to bring Devyani Khobragade safely back home.
Unwittingly, a young woman diplomat has become the symbol of India’s self-esteem. Her harassment is our harassment and the time has come to tell the world’s big bully that India won’t surrender its national pride at their altar. We survived their sanctions after Pokhran. This time we will do even better: America must eat its words; say sorry and either give retrospective diplomatic immunity to Devyani, or allow her to be repatriated home after withdrawing all fabricated charges against her. let them keep Sangeeta Richards instead: India doesn’t need dollar-chasing people with grubby hands to pollute this proud nation.