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The Rediff Special/ S Gopikrishna

Vajpayee's US visit: Now historic, soon to be prehistoric

How soon do historic achievements become history?

The story goes that some inspired soul conceived the idea of erecting a bridge over the river Narmada in a particularly backward district of Madhya Pradesh. The bridge, when completed, was to "enrich" the quality of life of the tribals who lived in the area. As is usual in India, the bridge helped many PWD engineers enrich themselves before it got anywhere near enriching the lives of the tribals.

The bridge was finally completed and inaugurated by a minister with a penchant for bombast. The minister proclaimed the bridge to be a "historic landmark" that would alter the lot of the tribals.

The "historic landmark" became history the same day, the result of a flash flood and the insatiable greed of the PWDwallahs. Soon, all memories of the bridge were erased and life continued as it would have in the absence of the "historic landmark".

Of late, the Government of India engineered "historic landmarks" seem to reflect the fate of the bridge in that they destruct and are soon forgotten -- they become "prehistoric" by the time the next "historic" event takes place.

Future occurrences will reveal the recent tamasha of Vajpayee's US trip to be as "historic" an achievement as his bus diplomacy trip to Pakistan. As of now, the Government of India is busy cooing that the trip has been an extraordinary success and that "remarkable progress" has been achieved.

PTI informs us that 'The US sees India as a strong candidate for the UN Security Council.' 'The elite,' we are informed, clamoured to see and be seen by Vajpayee. The prime minister, it may concluded from official reports, has had a Pied Piper effect on Americans at all levels.

Well, while the United States went through the motions of playing the perfect host and Al Gore went to the trouble having of one of his cronies study Vajpayee's poetry, are we on the cusp of any development as remarkable as our being given a permanent seat on the UN? Since history tends to repeat itself, the GOI should examine the past visits of Indian PMs and analyse their results before singing paeans of praise to Vajpayee's present visit.

The media, for example, gushed and enthused about the impact of Rajiv Gandhi's 1985 trip to the US. That was the era of the Festival of India -- a year long "event of events" designed to have an everlasting effect on the host country. Doordarshan's endless reruns of Americans donning kurtas and eating samosas convinced everybody about the omnipresence of Indian culture in the US -- Americans were so bowled over by desi customs that they enthusiastically adopted everything they saw. There is no doubting the fact, we were told repeatedly, that America viewed India as a superpower in the making.

The truth was obviously different. The real American reaction was a wonderful example of "Once a pauper, always a pauper." Once the usual American interest in the novel and exotic had worn off, everything about the "event of events" was forgotten. Public opinion about India reverted to the usual stuff about snake charmers and poverty. Forget acceptance as a superpower, India could congratulate itself if not greeted with "Join the queue at the Salvation Army post for some hot food." The only honours that came India's way subsequently were its usual lot of high rankings on the poverty merit list.

Nothing had changed, excepting in the feverish imaginations of government officials determined to make an event out of a non-event. Despite the obvious "Who's Vajpayee?" shrug from Americans and polite talk from American politicians, the GOI treats everybody to a rerun of the gushing that was inflicted upon us in 1985.

The official version makes much of Clinton's remark "Together, India and America will change the world." Highly encouraging! But how exactly is India going to contribute to changing the world? By supplying software specialists to the US?

The question remains answered. In case the GOI interprets this as an elliptical allusion to India's acquiring a permanent presence on the UN, rest assured. The US announced in 1998 that India had nullified all chances of getting a permanent seat on the UN by conducting nuclear tests.

As for all the interpretations that are being lent to the most vacuous of statements, the less said the better. "I felt like the Mahatma was walking towards me" said Clinton about his experience at the unveiling of the Gandhi statue. We marvel at the profound effect that one of our icons has had on Clinton and Martin Luther King.

Very moving indeed, till we realise the same Clinton went on television and gushed about the appropriateness of the Persian poet Jalaluddin Rumi's words before confessing to his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Has Iran risen in US eyes as a result? Once a rogue nation, always a rogue nation.

If the president is around, can the vice-president be far behind? Al Gore apparently fussed around Vajpayee "like a son." If this is supposed to mean that he will be as solicitousness personified over India's welfare if elected president, just remember the reassuring (if patronising) pronouncement by Lyndon Johnson during the course of Indira Gandhi's 1966 US visit "We shall see that no harm comes to this girl."

Of course, he went and cut food grain subsidies for India soon after… No harm came to the little girl who went to become the Czarina minus the crown, it was Mother India who faced the music…

When it was pointed out to GOI mandarins that the poor turnout on the occasion of Vajpayee's address to the joint session of the US Congress reflected American lack of interest in India, the chattering classes came up with the most fanciful of explanations. Some disputed the numbers, others said that "all important members had attended" even if the numbers were small.

The theory that takes the cake was the one that went: If Vajpayee had droned on a little longer, members with a propensity to come late would have able to attend reflecting the "real response". Well, when V K Krishna Menon lectured to the UN for five hours non-stop in the 1960s, there were a few who were snoring in the hall. The majority, who had slipped out with various excuses through the speech had gone home and were snoring in bed.

That was the "real response."

Lastly, the number of wannabe attendees for the banquet hosted by Clinton for the PM on September 18 is touted as an estimator of the success of Vajpayee's visit. We are enlightened to the fact that there were an unprecedented number of requests for attending the dinner and that the final list of invitees reads like a Who's Who of NRIs.

Yes, it was NRIs who dominated the audience…

Those who had invested heavily in India were probably checking to make sure that their financial futures were stronger than Vajpayee's knee.

The GOI seems to have convinced itself that every desi's heart vibrates to the exhortation about the motherland being more exalted than heaven ("Janani Janma Bhumi scha Svargaadapi Gariyasi"). They assume that the force of Vajpayee's rhetoric would galvanise all desis attending dinners and meetings into action resulting in "something" being accomplished for India.

Well, for starts, there are quite a few desis who (rightly or wrongly) believe in "America Green Card cha svargadaapi Gariyasi" (America and the Green Card are more valuable than heaven). People of Indian descent who identify more with the US than India would hardly be impressed with the song and dance about "O valorous sons of mother India! The motherland needs you!" that is a standard refrain in many a galvanising speech.

Vajpayee might as well go and render his oration in front of a rock and get it to budge.

While the chances of profiting through statements uncomplimentary to the new homeland (ie US in this case) are bleak, they certainly have the potential for unwarranted trouble…

When former PM I K Gujral confided in an off-the-cuff, off-the-record comment about England becoming a "third rate power" to a British journalist of desi extraction. After all, what is wrong in two "Indians" opening up their deepest thoughts to each other? When the gentleman in question (who identified more with England than India) revealed the details of the injudicious statement to the world, Gujral found himself in the hottest of soups.

Forget activism on India's behalf, India should congratulate itself if some of the attendees don't roundly condemn the GOI's actions and policies a la Arundhati Roy's writings in the aftermath of the 1998 nuclear explosions.

To paraphrase Shakespeare, the visit has been "much ado about nothing" and we are exactly where we were before…Much has been said and heard, nothing has been furthered…

The intentions and sentiments of the visit will become history soon…

But then, every story has to have a winner…

If anybody has benefited as a result of this hoopla, it is obviously Samudrala Venkatachalapathy of Parma, Ohio. Would it be possible for an ordinary priest to go down in history as being the first Hindu to recite a prayer before Congress? Or to get the attention of Congress and the television cameras stationed there, even if only for a few seconds?

Venkatachalapathy's life would have been as uneventful as ever, but for Vajpayee's visit…

His historic achievement remains the talk of the town, even after his being replaced by Karnam Malleswari in the headlines.

We finally have one "historic" achievement that will not become "prehistoric."

S Gopikrishna writes from Toronto on India and issues of pertinence to Indians. He welcomes feedback and can be reached at: S Gopikrishna

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