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EDITORIAL

NOIDA/DELHI

THE HINDU

Takeaways from the Obama visit

T
Twenty years ago, the talking points of U.S. policy
were to cap and eventually eliminate the
subcontinents nuclear programmes. Now, to have
the U.S. President at the Republic Day parade in
2015 while negotiators worked out ways to
operationalise civil nuclear cooperation shows
how far India-U.S. ties have progressed

Lisa Curtis

FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2015

Obama and
religious freedom
he rst public reactions to U.S. President Barack Obamas soul-stirring Address to the
People of India at the Siri Fort Auditorium in
New Delhi before winding up his three-day
historic trip to the country on January 27 have, rather
predictably, displayed a binary logic. A good section
instantly saw in Mr. Obamas candid views on dealing
with diversity of beliefs and of faiths and the need to
uphold the constitutionally guaranteed Right to Freedom of Religion without fear of persecution or discrimination, a well-meant yet stinging reminder to the
Narendra Modi-led BJP Government to rein in its
religious fundamentalist elements. But an equally vocal section seemed to resent his homily to a nation
whose Sanatana Dharma has been extremely tolerant
of all religions. However, holistically there is more
substance to Mr. Obamas 34-minute speech, set in the
context of two emerging scenarios. First, the possibility
that America can be Indias best partner in a whole
range of activities including the next wave of economic growth, and second, at a more personal level how
India for Mr. Obama represents an intersection of two
men who have always inspired me Martin Luther
King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi in striving for equity
and peace in a non-violent way.
It is from this perceptual bedrock that the American
President has sought to re-engage India on a much
wider socio-political canvas of cultural pluralism and
religious diversity under an overarching universal humanism. Mr. Obamas admission that in our lives,
Michelle and I have been strengthened by our Christian faith, may at best elevate traditional religious
notions like God and all of humanity being Gods
children, to a secular plane in a complex, interdependent world in guarding against sectarian divisions and
dark violence which threaten to rapidly undermine
foundational human values. This universalism for Mr.
Obama, looking beyond any difference in religion or
tribe and rejoice in the beauty of every soul, seem to be
rst premises for articulating a new global ethic of
peace and harmony. The entry point may be Hinduism,
Christianity, Islam or any other faith, but the goal is
enabling compassion and empathy in human affairs.
This is a utopian task, but this is what world leaders
like India and the U.S. should be doing, he hinted. The
late Philosopher-President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan,
in his work, The Spirit of Religion said: The world has
got together as a body; it is groping for its soul If we
can have a United Nations Organization, cannot we
have a United Religions Organization? Mr. Obamas
plea for religious freedom aims to give that vision a
chance under very different circumstances.

he rain during the Republic Day parade apart, United States President
Barack Obamas visit to India was a
near-perfect one. Indeed, his sojourn is likely to be viewed as one of the most
important and dening moments in the history of India-U.S. relations.
The pomp and symbolism of Mr. Obama
being the rst U.S. President to attend the
parade was expected. But the substance of the
visit, particularly its focus on defence and
Incidentally, the Washington-based Heristrategic cooperation, conrms that both Mr. the previous government headed by Dr. ManObama and Prime Minister Narendra Modi mohan Singh. The time and the attention the tage Foundation will join the Delhi-based ViIndian side has devoted in trying to resolve vekananda International Foundation, the
are serious about bolstering ties.
differences over the nuclear liability issue Australian Strategic Policy Institute, the ToProgress on strategic agenda
shows that the Modi government is taking kyo Foundation, and the Jakarta-based HabiThe most signicant achievement was the ownership of the deal.
bie Center in Bali, Indonesia, next week for a
progress made in military and defence coopTrack II Quad-Plus dialogue to discuss ways
eration. The renewal of the 10-year frame- China factor
to enhance cooperation in defence, regional
Forming the backdrop of progress on In- security and counterterrorism.
work for the U.S.-India Defence Relationship;
the announcement of joint projects, includ- dia-U.S. defence and strategic ties is undoubtChina has reacted warily to Mr. Obamas
ing the co-production of unmanned aerial edly the military and economic rise of China. visit to India. In a commentary that ran in a
vehicles (UAVs) and specialised equipment The Joint Statements call for freedom of state-owned Chinese newspaper, its author
for military transport aircraft; the establish- navigation and overight, especially in the cautioned India not to fall into Americas
ment of contact groups to explore co-devel- South China Sea, should be viewed as a veiled trap of trying to counter China.
opment of jet engine technology and aircraft reference to Chinese assertiveness in the
Counterterrorism cooperation
carrier systems, and the decision to upgrade region.
By demonstrating that China is very much
The two sides advanced their counterterbilateral, annual naval exercises represent
substantive steps that will deepen the de- on his mind, Mr. Modi has reportedly raised rorism dialogue and recommitted to cooperfence partnership.
The establishment of a hotline between the
two leaders and their national security adU.S. companies are apparently still studying the Indian
visers are also an indicator of the two counproposal
for a nuclear insurance pool to mitigate investment
tries taking ties to a deeper, strategic level.
The forward movement on civil nuclear
risks, so it may be too early to claim victory on the civil
issues was a surprise, given the antagonistic
nuclear front.
position of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
towards the civil nuclear deal when it was in
the Opposition. But details on the breakthrough understanding are sparse. And Mr. the idea of reviving the Quad (security collab- ating against Pakistan-based groups such as
Obama has himself acknowledged that U.S. oration between Australia, India, Japan and the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). There is confucompanies will have the nal say on whether the U.S.). Shinzo Abe, during his previous sion about whether Pakistan is cracking down
Indias proposal for an insurance pool will be stint as Prime Minister of Japan, proposed on the LeT front organisation, Jamaat-udsufficient to mitigate investment risks in light the idea of the Quad almost nine years ago. Dawa (JuD), led by the LeT founder, Haz
of Indian legislation that holds suppliers lia- The four countries backed away from the Mohammad Saeed.
ble for damages in the event of a nuclear proposal when China raised strong objecThe Pakistani media reported last week
accident. The companies are apparently still tions. Mr. Modis mention of the Quad may that Islamabad had frozen JuD assets and
studying the proposal, so it may be too early have been aimed at convincing China to back banned its leaders from international travel.
to claim victory on the civil nuclear front.
down from its assertive position with regard But Haz Saeeds recent announcement of
Nonetheless, U.S. officials seem to appre- to their border disputes. Chinese President Xi the JuD launching a new ambulance service
ciate the effort Indias negotiators are making Jinpings visit to India in September 2014 was in Karachi, shows that the organisation is not
in trying to resolve the civil nuclear deadlock. overshadowed by border tensions provoked feeling much heat from the governments
Many were sceptical that Mr. Modi would by unusual movements of Chinese soldiers purported actions.
invest much political capital in trying to move along the disputed frontier in northern
Washington should push Pakistan to try in
the deal forward since it was initiated under Kashmir.
the newly established military courts, the

CARTOONSCAPE

Sending the
right signal
he governments decision not to appeal
against the adverse verdict of the Bombay
High Court in its Rs.3,200-crore tax case
against Vodafone is the rst concrete demonstration of its resolve to do away with what Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley termed adversarial taxation policies of the
erstwhile UPA government. Though the BJP had during its election campaign, referred to tax terrorism in
its election campaign there was little that happened in
the rst eight months of the new government to show
that such policies would be reversed. The latest Cabinet decision sends out a strong signal to foreign investors that this government will be fair in its tax
policies and avoid needless litigation. The decision not
to appeal has implications for other such similar cases
involving multinationals and is, in that sense, a significant one. It is also an acknowledgment that the Income Tax Departments assessment of the case was
erroneous. The Vodafone case was about wrong classication of a capital receipt as taxable income at the
hands of the company. Applying transfer-pricing guidelines, the I.T. Department held that Vodafone had
underpriced its shares issued to the parent. So it revalued the shares and deemed the difference to be a loan
given to the parent. This was clearly high-handed and a
wrong application of transfer-pricing regulations.
The governments decision to accept the High Court
verdict is also a signal to assessing officers that they
should refrain from making unreasonable tax demands, relying on aggressive and faulty interpretations
of rules and sections. Yet, it is also true that the government turns the heat on these officers when it decides
that tax collections need to be augmented. If the tax
official is confused he cannot be blamed. What is needed is a stable policy that sends out the signal to both
assessing officers and taxpayers that the government
will crack down on evasion but within the framework of
the law; there will be no extraordinary interpretations
of rules and sections even in times of revenue distress.
The focus will now shift to whether the government
moves to neutralise the mischief caused by the retrospective tax amendment; this is a major demand of
foreign investors who were disappointed that it was not
addressed in the rst budget of this government in July
last year. The General Anti Avoidance Rules, or GAAR,
are a cause for worry for taxpayers and foreign investors as they confer wide discretionary powers on the
I.T. Department. It will be interesting to see if Mr.
Jaitley makes a Budget announcement to postpone its
implementation once again as per the recommendations of the Parthasarathi Shome Committee.

CM
YK

FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 2015

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Debating the Preamble
Any responsible government would
exercise caution and restraint when
it comes to sensitive issues and
where a change can trigger chaos
and friction in society (Let nation
debate Preamble: Ravi Shankar,
Jan.29). The amendment in 1976
reiterated the nations commitment
to growth and the protection of the
minorities and the poor; it did not
mean the majority would be
deprived of their rights and
opportunities. The current stand is
only a mechanism to gain political
mileage and polarise the nation.
Vikram Sundaramurthy,
Chennai
Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad is
only trying to be clever by half with
his suggestion. The issue may have
been claried by his Cabinet
colleague and the advertisements
may be innocent; however,
innocence should remain a virtue
and not be used as an alibi to create
a controversy. It is true that the
founding
fathers
of
the
Constitution, in their wisdom and
vision, had not included the words
socialist and secular in the
Preamble and the amendment
made in 1976 may have been an
overreach. But in the present time,
post-liberalisation and after the
Babri Masjid demolition and the
Godhra riots, things are different.
P. Venu,
Vaikom, Kerala

removed from the Preamble, do we

become secular automatically?
Only when we imbibe the spirit
behind these words and start living
accordingly will we become truly
secular and socialist.
Vijaya Krishna Pillai G.,
Alappuzha
The government must be reminded
about what U.S. President Barack
Obama said on the need to uphold
religious freedom. While it may be
true that India was secular even
before the introduction of the term
in 1976, and will remain so, its
introduction nevertheless shows a
greater commitment to this value. I
nd no logic in the Ministers
excuse that these terms were
introduced during the Emergency
and therefore need a fresh debate.
The question is whether these
terms have added greater value to
the Preamble or not. And have they
helped in a better interpretation of
constitutional provisions?
Chandra Prakash,
New Delhi

The omission of the words socialist

and secular is a clear attempt to
test the waters, given the way the
BJP government is handling
sensitive issues. The misgivings in
this regard are certainly not
without basis as there are overt and
covert attempts to push the country
towards being a Hindu Rashtra. The
Ministers call is laughable and an
indication of his governments
misplaced priorities.
The Ministers endorsement of the
J. Anantha Padmanabhan,
controversial remarks made by a
Tiruchi
Shiv Sena leader is rather
intriguing. What does he mean by The minorities are already
saying we do not need these words apprehensive of the rise of Hindu
to be secular? If these words are fundamentalism, and moves such as

seven LeT members in Pakistani custody for

their alleged involvement in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Pakistan has set up these special
military courts to overcome weaknesses in
the civilian court system in dealing with terrorist cases. One major problem has been the
ability of terrorists to intimidate civilian lawyers and judges in order to inuence the system in their favour.
Washington has not adequately leveraged
its aid and inuence in Pakistan to convince
the authorities to crack down on terrorist
groups that focus on attacking India, but also
pose an international threat. The U.S.s increased willingness to work with India to target these groups is welcome, but not enough.
Until Washington makes clear that it places the threat from LeT on a par with that from
al-Qaeda, Pakistani military and intelligence
services will continue to allow the LeT and
the JuD to operate relatively freely.

Womens rights, religious freedom

On the nal day of the visit, Mr. Obamas
speech, which focussed on womens rights
and religious freedom, was appropriate. The
treatment of women in India has garnered a
great deal of attention in the last couple of
years, especially following wide media coverage after a brutal gang rape on a bus in New
Delhi in December 2012 that left the young
woman dead.
The issue of religious freedom has also
come in the spotlight following reports of
mass ceremonies where Muslims and Christians are being converted to Hinduism. Parliament was paralysed for several days last
month when reports surfaced that a BJP leader planned to hold one of these ceremonies on
Christmas Day (December 25). Eventually
the group organising the event agreed to cancel it.
Amid the controversy, some BJP leaders
have proposed passing a national anti-conversion law legislation purportedly aimed
at preventing forced conversions. But Indias
religious minorities worry that such laws
would be used to harass or intimidate them.
There is also concern that allowing law enforcement or judicial authorities to determine whether a conversion has been forced or
manipulated allows the state to intervene too
heavily in religious matters that involve personal and ethical choices.
Mr. Modi has stayed away from communal
politicking and has signalled that he is more
interested in focussing on his economic agenda, rather than in pursuing Hindutva policies.
He has taken steps to reach out to the Muslim
community. For instance, during his rst
speech to Parliament last June, he said it was
unacceptable that the Muslim minority often
lagged behind the rest of the country in socioeconomic terms.
But he needs to reaffirm his commitment
to religious freedom and show that he is not
beholden to those pushing a hardline Hindutva agenda. Failing to do so could harm the
BJP governments international reputation
and dampen India-U.S. ties.
As a young diplomat heading to South Asia
nearly 20 years ago, I remember being
coached with very specic talking points on
U.S. policy, which was to cap, roll back, and
eventually eliminate the nuclear programmes of both India and Pakistan. To now
see the U.S. President at a spectacular parade
where Indias strategic weapons capabilities
were on full display, while U.S. and Indian
negotiators hashed out ways to operationalise civil nuclear cooperation, vividly illustrates just how far the relationship has
progressed in recent years.
The Joint Statement released during the
visit is notable for its length, spelling out
several achievements in the relationship but
also detailing the work that lies ahead. The
India-U.S. collaboration that now stretches
across a broad array of issues and the vision
set forth by the two leaders shows that we are
no longer striving for a strategic partnership.
We have arrived at one.
(Lisa Curtis is Senior Research Fellow on
South Asia at the Heritage Foundation.)

Letters emailed to letters@thehindu.co.in must carry the full

postal address and the full name or the name with initials.
the suggestion to have a debate will
be construed as taking the country
towards a theocratic state. It is
pertinent to note that Mr. Obama
spoke on Indian soil about the need
to uphold religious freedom. Mr.
Prasads argument that the words
were introduced during the
Emergency does not hold water as
many such insertions have been
made in the Constitution before
and after the Emergency.
M.K.B. Nambiar,
Mahe

communalism versus secularism

debate entered the nations political
discourse as a dominant narrative
only after this amendment
demonstrates the opportunistic
motive of the Congress regime.
Despite the BJP leaders professing
the eclecticism and inclusiveness of
Hinduism, the fact that the party
carries a heavy baggage of antiminorityism cannot be wished
away.
Even
well-intentioned
proposals, like the present one to
debate the relevance of the words
secular and socialist in the
The Preamble ends with the Preamble of the Constitution, are
sentence, In our constituent likely to be misunderstood. The
assembly this twenty-sixth day of proposal should be shelved not
November, 1949, do hereby adopt, because it lacks merit, but because
enact and give to ourselves this it will needlessly vitiate the
Constitution. Viewed in this atmosphere.
V.N. Mukundarajan,
context (the position being as of
Thiruvananthapuram
November 26, 1949), there is a case
to revisit Section 2 of the
Constitution
(Forty-second The Preamble is not the operative
Amendment) Act, 1976 which part of the Constitution, but a
substituted Sovereign Socialist statement of the circumstances for
promulgation
of
the
Secular Democratic Republic for the
Sovereign Democratic Republic. Constitution, and as such is frozen
Perhaps, in Article 368, the words in time. It does not lend itself to any
any provision did not cover the amendment at a later date.
P.V. Iyer,
Preamble, and the authors of the
Bengaluru
Constitution might have envisaged
a change in the Preamble when
another Constituent Assembly
revised the Constitution. Legalities The curtailment of Sujatha
apart, one wonders what change in Singhs service/tenure reminds us
policies has emerged post the of the infamous removal of A.P.
inclusion of the words socialist and Venkateswaran by Prime Minister
Rajiv Gandhi in 1987 (Jaishankar is
secular.
M.G. Warrier, Foreign Secretary, Jan.29). While
Thiruvananthapuram Rajiv Gandhis was an undignied
and sudden outburst, Prime
The Indira Gandhi regime carried Minister Narendra Modi seems to
out a redundant exercise in 1976 have gone for the silent kill. Mr.
when it inserted the words Modi has every right to appoint his
secular and socialist into the trusted officers to top posts, but the
Preamble. The fact that the abruptness in naming Mr.

New Foreign Secretary

Jaishankar is certain to create bad

feeling and give the Opposition
fresh ammunition.
Ganapathi Bhat,
Akola

Tax relief for firm

The Cabinet has done the right
thing by not challenging the
Bombay High Court ruling in the
Vodafone case (Cabinet goes by
HC tax relief for Vodafone,
Jan.29). This is a decision that will
improve the investment climate in
the country and another small step
to boost investor condence in the
Indian market and the Make in
India campaign.
P. Nithish Reddy,
Kadapa
It may be a coincidence, but the
report came on a day Apple
Corporations record quarterly
prot of $18 billion became known,
which boosted its reserves to nearly
$180 billion.
Multinationals often exploit tax
laws, splitting their operations,
registering
100
per
cent
subsidiaries in tax havens, and
shifting manufacturing to other
parts of the world so that they do
not end up paying corporate tax.
Some time ago there was a report
that every iPhone sold in the U.S.
was 30 per cent of its actual selling
price in the rest of the world. Two
years ago, the U.S. government set
up a committee to plug tax
loopholes to augment its revenue
but nothing has come of it, and
MNCs continue to reap windfall
prots. All this shows that the
Indian government needs to be
judicious in granting concessions.
N. Ramamurthy,
Chennai
ND-ND