The strange case of Bushlove in India

The strangest thing happened to me in my recent visit to India-- I found myself in a situation where my friends argued that Bush had been better for India than Obama could be ! Finding the logic and emotion so out of wack with my own thinking, I sought out a rational, perceptive observer and writer on the Indian scene for his explanation of this strange phenomenon. Rahul Singh who has been a journalist all his life and edited most of India's newspapers at different points in his working life, sought to explain it thus " There were three major reasons for this Bush adulation in India at the present time- one was clearly his strong and consistent support for the Indo nuclear deal. A second little recognized reason was that Bush eliminated the Taliban in Afghanistan converting what had been a Pakistan supporting regime into one that was clearly pro indian." A third reason, according to him, was the opening up of the Indian economy in the nineties where the Indian middle class found both voice and opportunity denied them in the earlier socialist oriented regimes. Their children could freely move to the US for a better life and they felt that Bush had stood against the protectionist tendencies in the US and was an ardent free trader. (He tried to argue that the removal of Saddam Hussein was another reason for the outpouring of support for Bush in the polls, but this was clearly not one rationale I could accept.)

It was interesting that the Indian midde class, was quite willing to suspend all judgement on moral issues - on subversion of the constitution in the US, Bush's policy of preemption, imprisonment without due process, denial of the Geneva convention, Abu Ghraib etc-- simply for the economic benefits that the Bush regime ostensibly had provided the Indian polity- though even that was questionable. After all the opening up of the economy predated Bush, the visa regime was more the doing of Clinton presidency and the Indo nuclear deal had plenty of opponents who were sure that it would provide India little technology and even less secuirity. They argued , correctly, that the US had not developed any technology for nuclear power plants since the last such plant was built in the US three decades ago and they had found no breakthroughs on the most vexing problem of nuclear waste disposal. And as for the removal of the Taliban in Afghanistan, the taliban were back with a vengeance and not only in Afghanistan but also Pakistan next door, thanks to a mishandled war and a diversion of resources to Iraq. So while the middle class waxed eloquent on the corruption and incompetence of the Indian government, they seemed much less disturbed by the Bush era of greed, corruption and incompetence or the fact that Bush had managed to drive the world economy into a deep deep hole which would not only impact the Indian economy in the short term but also in the long term. It also seemed clear that in late January, the Indian middle class had not yet grasped the degree of financial disruption that US recession would cause in the Indian economy.

Perhaps as the full measure of the tragedy of the Bush era becomes clearer, this Indian public opinion will change as well.