The Hindu Business Line : We have nothing much to choose from

Last week when Barack Hussein Obama, the first Afro-American, became the US President, my good friend Ashok put in one of his rare calls to talk about the man. Rarely does Ashok get excited but that morning he was. A year ago, some American friends of his daughter who lives in America landed at his place and the talk dwelt on the US Presidential elections. When Ashok asked them whether Obama would enter the White House his American friends said a firm “No” and elaborated: “In a deeply divisive society like America, the whites will not vote for Obama. Forget it.” They have been proved wrong.

That day on TV channels Obama framed a moment of hope for the deprived blacks (if one is permitted to use the phrase). Americans may tolerate an Arthur Ashe and Williams sisters in tennis, a Tiger Woods in golf but an Afro-American as US President … “You have to give it to the American culture with all of its dried skin,” said Ashok while referring me to a piece by Arindam Chaudhuri in the Variety page of Business Line. “Did you read the piece. Please read it if you have the time,” pleaded Ashok and at least this writer will do what Ashok tells me to do. Having worked with him for some time in Chennai one has a deep regard for Ashok.

Incidentally, one missed the piece as it was an ad across the bottom of the page. One went back to the paper and had to agree that the essay by Arindam with his fall-back to Uncle Tom’s Cabin was to the point. “See, it tells something of American society,” remarked Ashok. Many may not agree but the fact is America and the West in general may have rejected religion but are mostly fair; in India we love religion but are mostly unfair except of course an odd man out called Mahatma Gandhi.

Mostly US has accepted its errors openly. They love money, they love free markets but they also care. Ashok was more impressed by the graciousness shown by the Republican opponent John McCain. “His speech should be a must for our children,” Ashok said and again one thought my friend was right as Indian politics is bereft of any grace.

Dudley Rendall’s collection – The Black Poets – starts with a Folk Poetry which runs: “Oh, get you ready children,/Don’t you get weary,/ Get you ready children,/ Don’t you get weary./We’ll enter there, oh, children,/Don’t you get weary,/ There’s a great camp meeting in the Promised Land.” On the TV screens the day Obama won, in the crowd stood an old black gentleman with wet eyes. The tears were not flowing; they had got stuck in his eyes. Maybe those eyes seemed sure of having arrived at a camp meeting in the Promised Land.

Long, long ago, Abe Lincoln got the non-whites some relief though the non-violent gesture of Rosa Parks showed up the tragedy of a community more strongly.

Rosa Parks alerted the world to the pain which Frederick Douglass in 1853 sang of: “We raise de wheat,/ Dey gib us de corn;/ We bake de bread,/Dey gib us de crust;/ We sif de meal,/ Dey gib us de huss;/ We peel de meat,/Dey gib us de skin;/ And dat’s de way/Dey take us in;/ We skim de pot,/Dey gib us de liquor,/And say dat’s good enough for nigger.”

Having come to the Promised Land can Obama get the two sides to sup? It is like asking whether the Dalits will have right of way in India. Obama today is a politician. Will he become a statesman offering the salve to a divided US troubled with a collapsing economy and further away to Iraq and Afghanistan? Bush had no business to move US troops into Iraq on a wrong alibi and this can be said without condoning Saddam Hussein. Iraq is now torn to bits and Afghanistan is worse. Will Obama pull out US troops at one go?

It is too much to expect US government not to back Pakistan. Fair enough. But if Obama can get Pakistan and India to accept the Line of Control as the final border and halt the entry of terrorists into Kashmir, it would be some relief from all the wanton killing of ordinary humans. India and Pakistan are playing cricket and hockey, are now trading and also crossing borders by bus and train, however symbolic all of it may look.

The Indian Express today front-paged a pix of Obama hugging an Iraq war veteran, Tammy Duckworth. That’s what the world needs, badly – a warm hug. Symbols can gain girth given goodwill. He has promised to listen to the other side without agreeing with them.

By January 20, 2009, Obama would have done a lot of listening and will be measured by the policies he spells out. Can Obama get the US to make adjustments to its heart beat and accommodate all communities? Finally, will he be able to tone down the putting-off US swagger? That has not been done by any US President in the last 30 or 40 years.

Obama has to put a fresh style of governance in place and that is not going to be easy as old systems are marshlands which never go. Some five years ago in India there was a little sigh of relief when Dr. Manmohan Singh became Prime Minister. He had the best chance to knit India into one entity and make its economy wholesome. He has missed out. India 2008 is split in every manner a politician could think of and play with to win votes. Dr. Singh could have become a statesman but that is not to be.

The political agenda was long set by Gandhiji: invest in agriculture, peace between the Hindus and Muslims, make living safe for Dalits and above all enrich the poor. That agenda still holds as the country wallows in a recession. In another four to five months, India will have its General Elections and the voters have been left with no choice. Be honest to the voter: What is there to choose between Congress, BJP or any other party. Is there a single politician worth going to the booth for? In American politics, all along, Democrats and Republicans have been the same. Being an Afro-American, Obama has made the difference for the first time in 2008. India has no such luck.

P. Devarajan

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We have nothing much to choose from