About a month back, reacting to criticism over his foreign policy drift, US President Barack Obama tried to defend himself by drawing allusions to America’s favourite pastime: Baseball. “You hit singles, you hit doubles,” he said. “Every once in a while we may be able to hit a home run”. At Madison Square Garden in New York on Sunday, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi finished his speech, he had truly “hit a home run” or in cricketing parlance — a sixer! And his preference for Hindi must have helped establish a personal rapport with the audience that comprised an overwhelming majority of non-resident Indians (NRIs).
In terms of content and context, the Modi ‘show’ was every ounce a box office hit. If the Indian community in the US sprang a surprise by its choice of the iconic venue to host a civil reception for the Indian premier, then Modi too made sure that he lived up to the billing with his trademark elan that was not allowed to be stifled by the iron-clad compulsions of protocol, but was instead high on the spontaneity quotient befitting a clever sales pitch.
And talking of a sales pitch, just see how he utilised to the hilt the stage that had been provided to him by the Indian-American community. Granting all Persons of Indian Origin lifetime Indian visas, to save them the trouble of going through formalities to authenticate prolonged stays in India, and clearing the deck for visas-on-arrival for all American visitors to India were two key announcements that will have endeared the Indian premier to both Indians in America as well as American citizens. And these are announcements that could have come during Modi’s stay in Washington, under more officious circumstances, than the rock-star-like public reception at Madison Square Garden. These decisions comprise key foreign-policy logistics that any other prime minister would probably have reserved for the Foreign Ministry to deliberate. But Modi’s preference to walk off the beaten track is perfectly in sync with the out-of-the box thinking that the prime minister’s office has been trying to incorporate in its DNA right from the time Modi entered South Block in New Delhi. If his decision to invite all the heads of government of the Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) countries to his swearing-in was a diplomatic masterstroke, then announcing a relaxed visa regime for NRIs and Americans, from the podium of a civil reception in New York, is certainly a clever ploy to sound out Washington well before the much-awaited meeting with Obama in White House. Even before Modi enters Roosevelt room, the positive vibes of his New York announcement will be something that the Obama administration will have to measure up to — in letter and spirit. ‘This is what we have brought to the table. Try matching it’ — that could well be ingrained in the body language of Team Modi as the two leaders of the world’s oldest and largest democracies get down to working out the finer points of their dossier on bilateral issues.
The best part of Modi’s nearly hour-and-a-half speech was aimed at conveying one key message: That India Inc is open for business. As many as 30 members from the US Congress were part of the delegates present on stage at Madison Square Garden — something unprecedented in American politics. Never before had so many members of the Congress attended a civil reception for a foreign head of government. Reaching out to not just the members of the Indian community in America but to the wider American society, Modi tried his best to dispel medieval aspersions about India, saying that from being stereotyped as a land of “snake charmers”, India is now a nation that charms the world with its human-capital excellence in information technology. He tagged India’s soft-skill proficiency with his big push for ‘Make in India’ – establishing India as a manufacturing hub. While a cleaner and more environment-friendly river Ganges finds an obvious social and emotional resonance with the Indian diaspora, assurances from the PM to do away with a maze of legalities in entrepreneurship are likely to have struck a chord among the business community in the US, as one Congressman commented after Sunday’s programme in New York: “India now seems to have replaced the red tape with a red carpet!”
With a 20,000-strong crowd on pins and needles to hear the Indian premier speak and with every sentence of his being endorsed with loud cheers, the feedback that Modi got from a Sunday crowd in New York must have bolstered his confidence for the rest of the tour. But the Madison Square Garden-leg was truly the honey-laced bit, wherein Modi was playing to his strengths: His masterful oratorical skill and his ability to connect with an audience. His real challenge begins once he gets down to the brass tacks of realpolitik with Obama and the White House mandarins. Recognition of India’s role as a South Asian pivot in defence, America’s policy towards Pakistan as a strategic ally – vis-a-vis the pragmatics of Indo-Pak geopolitics, the rising threat of Chinese incursions in India’s north-eastern borders, relaxation of visa norms for skilled Indian professionals in America and more American patronage in India’s civil nuclear trade and foreign direct investments are issues where Modi may find Washington playing hard ball. It is up to Modi now to get the Obama administration to understand and appreciate New Delhi’s side of the story.
Madison Square Garden has set the tone. Let Modi keep up the momentum.
