"There’s a great deal we hope India will contribute to. The peace and prosperity in the 21st century will be impacted upon by the outcomes of that relationship. It’s the defining partnership in the century ahead."These words belong to United States Vice President Joe Biden, who, on a visit to India earlier this year, expounded on how his 'great' nation and our 'great' nation were both 'great partners' of the 21st century.
Great because we stand united against terrorism, unified in the face of a rising China, and as the two towering exemplars of modern democracy.
Perhaps our 'greatest' folly has been to wholly misinterpret the American view of our testingly 'unique' partnership. Despite all the camaraderie and democratic affinity, if one tries to see through all the brouhaha - it is clear: we will never be equal partners.
Perhaps the realization of our deeply flawed and broken bilateral relationship only hit the Indian Government when a 39-year-old Indian woman Devyani Khobragade, serving as the Deputy Consul General in New York was arrested in full public view for a crime not proven in a court of law, and subject to humiliation in the form of repeated strip searches by US Marshals; unheard of for any diplomat, let alone for one who has made her country proud on several occasions.
Khobragade's alleged crime was to have denied her domestic help minimum wages as per the local wage laws, when sadly, the diplomat herself falls below the wage line. The US even went on to claim that Khobragade has made a false declaration of the maid's wages to the US authorities, thereby committing visa fraud.
Shouldn't Indians who work in US missions across India too get paid minimum wages as deemed mandatory in Washington DC?
To have her confined in a prison cell with drug addicts as inmates is not only denigratory, but is also an absolute violation of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.
This also exposes the deep gulf that exists between how India sees the US and how the US sees the world. This isn't just about the US playing big brother, it is about human rights; rights that the US has very conveniently toyed with over and over again.
Quite surprisingly, the Indian Government sent out stern messages to America, warning them of swift reciprocity in equal measure if corrective action wasn't taken soon and vowing to bring Khobragade back.
Reciprocity was swift indeed. Barricades were removed, IDs reviewed, Congressional delegation shunned; and US diplomats, who once enjoyed special privileges by India were now treated as ordinary diplomats. Whether or not the message went across resoundingly, the American mission
was brought to its proverbial knees.
Devyani Khobragade is a proud woman who wears the tricolour on her sleeve and we shall bring her home, even if it means further rupturing our 'great' albeit brittle relationship with the US.
She has been transferred to the UN permanent mission in New York, which means she will be able to exercise full diplomatic immunity. Soon, she will be home.
But we need to watch out for the future. If US doesn't mend its ways, it will indeed lose a 'great' partner in India.
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