The inclusion of Chennai as the only place outside New Delhi in the itinerary of her forthcoming visit to India on July 19-20 by the US Secretary of State, Ms Hillary Clinton, has come as a welcome surprise. I can lay a wager that this has been on the initiative from the US side. Let me explain myself by a process of deductive logic.

One can be sure that it is not just the emergence of Chennai as a hub for trade and investment, or the presence of the Ford factory (as has been given out), that must have made Chennai compellingly attractive in American eyes. The mere fact of the Ford factory manufacturing cars not only for the Indian market but also for exports to other parts of the world cannot be the reason for accommodating in the schedule of a two-day visit a city that is so conspicuously out of the way.

What Ford is doing is not anything special; in fact, it must be a common feature of any number of its factories round the world, and if you have seen one (which Ms Clinton must undoubtedly have), you have seen all!

Worth wooing

So, what has pitchforked Chennai? First, let us look at the clue tucked away in the briefing by the spokesperson of the US Department of State, Ms Victoria Nuland: She mentions Chennai's record of “people-to-people engagement that is driving the US-India relationship” as an important factor that made it a cinch in Ms Clinton decision to spend a day in the city. This is not surprising and only confirms the impression I myself had formed from my own contacts among American consular officials and participation in several get-togethers organised by them from time to time.

The people of Chennai, and generally of Tamil Nadu, have traditionally had a soft corner for the US, with no record of any hostile or violent demonstrations or incidents.

American Embassy officials, including successive Ambassadors, have found in Chennai and Tamil Nadu a paradigm of development in tune with the spirit of private-public-Government partnership denoted by Tamil Nadu being ranked No.1 among Indian States in economic freedom.

As the fourth largest economy, second in per capita income, at the top of human development and foreign direct investment, and with the largest number of small, medium and ancillary industries, the State is certainly worth wooing.

Congenial climate

It is understandable if the Americans are keen to do this at the very start of the tenure of a political leader of the calibre of Ms Jayalalithaa as the Chief Minister, whom I have heard quite a few US Ambassadors, close to the US power structure, describing as the sharpest, brainiest and the best head of government that they had seen in their careers.

There is no question of a congenial climate that exists here for fostering Indo-US relations, as evident from the fact that in meetings and discussions, the Chennai intelligentsia, representing a cross-section of opinion, has invariably come up with constructive, and often out-of-the-box, suggestions to promote and strengthen understanding between India and the US.

Apart from all this, there was also need to maintain some sort of balance between States in arranging such high profile visits. Hyderabad had already had its fill of two US Presidents (Bill Clinton and George Bush), the British Prime Minister (Tony Blair) and the UN Secretary-General (Kofi Annan), and Chennai's turn has not come a day too soon.

No doubt, some time would have been set apart for Ms Jayalalithaa and Ms Clinton to share their views on matters of moment. I am sure Ms Jayalalithaa will succeed in her talks with Ms Clinton in enlarging the scope of cooperation with the US for the benefit of the State.

If I were any part of the powers-that-be at New Delhi, I should not let go of this grand opportunity to make use of Ms Jayalalithaa's political savvy, quick grasp of issues that count and refreshing capacity for lucid exposition, to project the State perspective to deepen the strategic partnership between India and the US.

Related Topics