A new horizon: An Indian lesson!

Al Ahram, p.7, (4-3-2006)

By: Abdallah Abdel Salam

Please, think carefully about this irony: the western leaders, foremost of whom is George Bush, currently compete to visit, woo and make deals with India, while those leaders are content to send second-rate or third-rate officials to the Arab region to give lectures and lessons, dictate conditions and criticize government behaviour.

There are two possible explanations for this: the first is that they hate us and treat us with double standards and act according their traditional enmity towards the Arabs and the Muslims. The other explanation requires us to find out what makes the Indians distinguished from us that they receive such a treatment, noticing that till early 1990s the Indians have considered the West an enemy and the US CIA a major reason for the misery and poverty of their country. They are not of fair complexion or blue-eyed to be embraced by the West. There must be, then, other reasons for this western friendliness towards India.

The first of these reasons is that democracy in India is real, not formal or aiming at foreign propaganda. The US citizens, Farid Zakaria, a US writer of Indian origin said, accept controversy from established democracies, but refuse it from dictatorial regimes, although sometimes they are obliged to deal with such regimes. Democracy in India works on correcting mistakes and reveals corruption, however huge it is. It provides the political community with the best cadres regardless of favouritism, colour, race or religion. The PM Manmohan Singh represents a typical example. He belongs to the Sikh minority, yet he reached the highest position due to his efficiency and integrity.

Yet, democracy alone is not enough. Although democracy began in India since 1947, the West did not pay much attention to it. And here comes the second reason represented in the economic, knowledge and technology rising experienced by India. This rising is felt by the West through Indian exports of various types and through the Indians who seized the positions of the US citizens while they are still living in India, which is known as job exporting.

What makes this rising special is that it came out of a society encompassing the largest educated middle class in the world, not governmental orders as the case with China. Hence, you would find thousands of success stories for people who began at the bottom and reached the top. This is similar to what happened before in the US for example. This is the picture of India as the West sees it: a democratic state with a project for rising and development. But, how do the West look at us? They see us as countries generating violence and terrorism (September attacks), where there is no place for democracy, countries that failed to achieve an economic rising in spite of the natural wealth they own. Unfortunately, many acts by us prove this picture. Why then should we blame the West for the way it is dealing with us?

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