By- Pranay Kumar Shome
It is a classic catch 22 situation for India, whether to support Trump who has been a vocal critic on multiple issues concerning India or the seemingly more docile Joe Biden who has been an opponent of the Citizenship Amendment Act
Seldom has the history of the world been hooked to a single event, the US general elections on 3rd November this year commands such significance, but as far as India is concerned the million dollar question is-whom to choose the jingoistic motor mouth incumbent president Donald Trump or the shrewd yet controversial former vice president and democrat presidential hopeful Joe Biden.
Difficult choice
India which has emerged as one of the closest allies of the United States in the last decade has much at stake after all over one million Indian American citizens are have voted and a large number of candidates of Indian origin politicians are seeking a stint in office. But the moot issue is this- what stake does India as a nation state has in this historical US election. At the outset it is very difficult for India to make a choice between both the candidates. When Donald Trump was elected president in 2016, India braced for a new impact on ties. At the end of four years the result has been mixed bag.
While Trump has been very hard on China through actions like igniting a trade war, supporting India’s incremental militarization of the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) besides providing diplomatic support on the issue of Jammu and Kashmir which has proved to be perceptibly popular for many Indians, but what has been ignored by a large section of Indians is that Trump has often excoriated India for being the “Tariff King” , he also India blamed India for being a high emitter of greenhouse gas emissions which he used as an excuse to withdraw from the Paris Climatic Accord.
When it comes to Biden, the trajectory of the Indo-US relationship in the last decade has been largely positive with occasional aberrations. Biden is more experienced then Trump vis-à-vis India because Biden was vice president during the Obama regime. He was one of the most vocal proponents of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, had lambasted Pakistan on numerous occasions be it the 26/11 terror attacks or the US special forces raid on Abbottabad in May 2011 which took out Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden by calling Pakistan a “state sponsor of terror”.
However Biden is not a holy cow, he has been a vocal critic of India’s handling of the Kashmir “human rights violation”, Biden’s family also has significant business relations with China, which The New York Post (NYP) showed in a recent expose, he also softly criticized India for its passage of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). All this indicates that New Delhi will have a hard time belling the cat called “Biden”.
Choosing the lesser evil
India therefore faces the choice of choosing the lesser evil, make no mistake, both the candidates have their equal share of achievements and follies. However it is better that India chooses Joe Biden over the incumbent Donald Trump. There are multiple reasons.
Firstly, Biden will help in regaining the deep trust which was the hallmark of Indo-US ties during the Obama regime but which was somehow was lost during the Trump era. He will help in pushing Indo-US relationship to new highs which will invariably help in strengthening India’s in the Indo-Pacific.
Secondly, Joe Biden has publicly proclaimed that if he is voted to power then he will take a far tougher stance on China, although it remains to be seen whether he walks the talk, it appears quite discernible that he has to take a hard line approach to China to satisfy his allies and his domestic voter base who are miffed over China’s alleged role in the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic and as well as China’s gross rights abuses in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.
Thirdly, Biden employs subtlety and grace in his conduct and thinks twice before criticizing his allies which sometimes can pay rich dividends in foreign policy.
Fourthly, while it is true that Trump’s America has lambasted Pakistan time and again on terrorism and Pakistan, if Biden is voted to presidency he will help India strengthen its presence in Afghanistan by negotiating a better deal with the Taliban, will hold Pakistan accountable more strictly over its terror funding and propagation and will perhaps help bring stability to South Asia.
Conclusion
Whatever choice America makes on November 3, it is quite clear that India will clearly be in a win-win situation, a new history for India-US ties is in the making with global implications. However India must be mindful of the issues that Biden will emphasize on if he is elected president, hence it is better for New Delhi to not lose sight of the longer issue at stake.