Exemplary or exceptional?

Raju Korti

In the midst of a row

Those who cannot stop gushing forth on the uncharacteristically aggressive stand taken by a traditionally incompetent government on the "humiliation" meted out to Devyani Khobragade,  the deputy consul general at the Indian Consulate in New York, seem to have missed out on a crucial element in the controversy.
The Indian diplomat was arrested in full public glare and later released last week in connection with an allegedly 'fradulent' visa application for her housekeeper and babysitter. Even as a heated war of words erupted over whether Ms Khobragade was entitled to diplomatic immunity, the Indian government went through its standard operating procedure of lodging a "strong protest" -- until someone shrewd in the ruling dispensation realized that here was a strong political lever to shore up its fledgling image.
By all accounts, the Congress, whose fate seems to be sealed in the general elections slated for June 2014, couldn't have found a better platform to do so. In a surprise show of "self respect" and "dignity", the government, which has never had a track record of reacting strongly to any international outrage, decided to get even and took a series of swift measures to pay the United States back in the same coin.
Humiliation of international diplomats is not a new phenomenon. When relations between two countries sour to a nadir, the consulates are usually the first to get the boot. In this case, however, the government, whose response to any international row hardly travels beyond some diplomatic gibberish, decided in all its new found wisdom that it was time to stand up and be counted.
Riding on a massive public support for an apparently justified cause, the "fuming government" did the unthinkable. It asked the US embassy in New Delhi to submit the entire list of their Indian employees along with their salary details and work profiles. The preferred treatment given to American diplomats and visiting dignitaries at Indian airports was withdrawn as also other privileges relating to their security, retaining only what was “legally allowed”. The consular staff was ordered to immediately surrender the ID cards given by the Indian government. And the most ultimate insult which hits the Americans where it hurts most: withdrawal of duty exemption of alcohol import. In short, the status of the Americans who are not diplomats but work in consulates would be reduced to 'diplomats' but work in consulates would just be treated as ordinary expats.
While conceding that the Indian government's tit-for-tat reaction is unprecedented, it hasn't sunk into most people that this kind of bravado and bluster was nowhere to be seen even when its sworn arch enemies across the border were perpetrating one audacious outrage after another on the Indian soil. Despite a large number of people getting killed periodically, the Indian response remained confined to "strong protests" and "warnings" that were never translated into action. But the arrest of a diplomat for a violation not so grave, propelled the government into an overdrive as if it was in a hurry to sever all ties with the United States.
One suspects this has something to do with the country's home minister Sushilkumar Shinde being close to retired IAS officer Uttam Khobragade, Devyani's father. The Dalit card has been effectively internationalized in a show of righteous indignation and strong patriotism to a people fed on an impotent government. A specious and rhetorical master-stroke that will elicit just the kind of popular support that the tottering government needs so badly at this juncture.
Prima facie the government's reciprocal deserves to be hailed but the politics of vested interests takes the sheen off it. The nickel drops when you know that in the past the Indian government has hardly taken a belligerent stand on contentious international issues. This sudden show of spunk and solidarity is one-off and has to be read between the lines.
Till then appreciation needs to be couched in reservations.