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13 January 2014

US-India relations fracture

THE AUSTRALIAN
JANUARY 11, 2014

INDIA has ill-served its own interests and disappointed its friends by displaying such misplaced outrage over allegations concerning one of its New York-based consular officials. It is alleged that the official submitted false documentation to get a work visa to bring in a household maid from India and then paid her a fraction of what she was due under US law. Because of New Delhi's over-the-top reaction and the way officials have deliberately whipped up anti-American sentiment, the furore surrounding the case has developed into a full-blown diplomatic crisis between two countries. It comes after a historic 2008 civilian nuclear agreement reached between the two countries that elevated their bilateral strategic relationship to new levels of co-operation. It formed the basis for booming India to become a close US and Western ally.

Little evidence of that co-operation has been apparent as New Delhi has initiated a series of petty bullying measures aimed at retaliating against the arrest of New York deputy consul-general Devyani Khobragade, who allegedly told US authorities the maid would get $5057 a month but paid her $643 a month to work far longer than 40 hours a week. In a country where domestic workers are paid abysmally and there is no minimum wage, official Indian outrage has inevitably ignored the plight of the hapless maid and her alleged exploitation. Instead, it has focused on Ms Khobragade, who says she was arrested by and subjected to a "body-cavity" search, something denied by US authorities. Mention of the search has, however, triggered the biggest crisis in Indo-US relations in years, and while there are reports Ms Khobragade has been asked to leave the US, there is no doubt the case has done -- and continues to do -- serious damage to a vital bilateral relationship for our region. It has harmed optimistic perceptions of the "new India" as it emerges as a major economic and political power, and for that, Indian officials have themselves to blame. Amid the public outcry, retaliatory measures taken by New Delhi have included removing anti-terrorist barriers protecting the US embassy, closing an embassy recreational club to outsiders, revoking diplomatic ID cards and issuing traffic fines. As well, high-ranking US official visits have been put on ice. The irrational moves show up India in an extremely poor light and as much as they are directed at the US, they will also be of concern to countries such as Australia that have placed development of strategic and economic ties with India at the top of their foreign policy agendas.

Few bilateral relationships that have evolved in recent years are more important than that between Washington and New Delhi, pivoted in the civilian nuclear deal. It is one that has wrested India from the clutches of its decades-old alliance with the Soviet Union and Russia and is vital at a time of Chinese expansionism in our region. It deserves far better than to be soured by the Indian deputy consul-general's treatment of her maid. New Delhi needs to realise that in developed societies there is legitimate concern when employees are mistreated or exploited and that even diplomats must comply with local labour laws. In its own interests, India needs to have dealt with the dispute and focused on building and expanding the relationship. There is far too much at stake for it to do otherwise. Putting the relationship further at risk would be an act of extreme folly.

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