Those days of the North-South divide when India and the United States more often than not found themselves on opposite sides are over, American President Barack Obama asserted while addressing the Members of Parliament in the packed Central Hall. America welcomed, looked forward to and fervently supported India as a rising power.
In his 40-minute address that was replete with references to India's ancient civilisation that “has been shaping the world for thousands of years”; to Panchtantra that recognised “our common humanity”; and to those who had helped shape the ethos of the country during and immediately after Independence — Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, B.R. Ambedkar — President Obama seemed to have worked the magic of words on his audience that gave him a standing ovation.
Perhaps his most generous reference to the influence of Mahatma Gandhi on Martin Luther King and the course of American politics was when he said: “I am mindful that I might not be standing before you today, as President of the U. S., had it not been for Gandhi and the message he shared with America and the world.”
Loudest applause
But the loudest applause came when he said: “I look forward to a reformed United Nations Security Council that includes India as a permanent member.” Although short of a full endorsement of a seat for India on the UNSC, the manner in which he talked about “increased responsibility” that comes with increased power suggested his support for such reform. He was quick to refer to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as the cornerstone of the global non-proliferation regime, and said preventing proliferation and nuclear terrorism was at the “top of our nuclear agenda.”
On the subject of the new protectionist U.S. policies, he said: “Together we can resist protectionism that stifles growth and innovation,” and virtually promised that the U.S. would continue to remain “one of the most open economies in the world.” He suggested that for India too “opening markets and reducing barriers” would be the way to achieve her full economic potential.
Ahead of the address, hosted by the Indian Parliamentary Group, the question on the minds of many MPs was whether he would talk about U.S. policies in relation to Pakistan and Afghanistan. And he did. “We will continue to insist to Pakistan's leaders that terrorist safe-havens within their borders are unacceptable, and that terrorists behind the Mumbai attacks must be brought to justice,” he said, even as he made the point that both India and the U.S. have an interest “in both an Afghanistan and a Pakistan that is stable, prosperous and democratic”.
Justifying his country's Afghanistan-Pakistan policy, he said that while the strategy was to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat Al-Qaeda and its affiliates,” this had to succeed “on both sides of the border [in Pakistan and Afghanistan].” That is why “we have worked with the Pakistani government to address the threat of terrorist networks in the border region.”
He also added that Pakistan realises these networks are a threat to the Pakistani people, not just a threat to those outside it.
Mr. Obama walked into Parliament in a formal procession that included the Speaker of the Lok Sabha Meira Kumar, Chairman of the Rajya Sabha Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Parliamentary Affairs Minister P.K. Bansal.
