Is Hillary dumping Delhi for Beijing?

With Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about to embark on a seven-day trip to India and Thailand, there is some speculation that the Delhi visit is only for show, a trip “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,” as one blogger described it.

According to a State Department press release, Hillary “will meet with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and with External Affairs Minister Krishna. The Secretary and Minister Krishna will discuss the structure and elements of an enhanced U.S.-India strategic partnership that will enable us to advance solutions to the defining challenges of our time and to enhance global prosperity and stability in the 21st century. ”

While that sounds impressive enough, not everyone is convinced that the U.S – India “strategic partnership” is more than a U.S. ploy to get non-aligned India to purchase near-obsolete American fighters.

From the Rupee News –

The US-Bharti (India) relationship is on the decline and Delhi knows this. Delhi has been sacrificed on the alter of the Sino-American relationship. Even so both countries will be putting a good face on the short lived friendship. There will be a lot of smiles, and a plenty of photo-ops. There will be huge references to the Nuclear deal and a lot of talking about the sale of stripped down versions of discarded US planes–in essence a lot of fluff and no substance.

According to the Rupee News, evidence that U.S. – India relations are on the decline  includes:

1) The US “dumped” India at the G-8 summit by imposing severe restriction on the export of nuclear material to countries that have not signed the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty.

2) Hillary’s first trip was to China and did not include a visit to India.

3) The U.S. no longer sees India as a counterweight to China. Many believe that Hillary is the architect of a much closer relationship with Beijing.

4) Although India is still upset about the attack at Mumbai, “the rest of the world has taken a big yawn on the subject.”

5) The US has tripled its aid package to Pakistan, India’s rival in the region.

All this conjecture about “dumping Delhi,” of course, must be seen in the context of Hillary’s long-standing pro-India sentiments. Calling  India “Hillary Clinton’s Darling,” think-tank director and blogger Dr. A. Prabaharan believes that no one is better suited to take U.S. – India relations to “the next level.”

In the last 62 years of India-US relations, no US secretary of state had credentials anywhere comparable to Hillary Clinton’s in the matter of promoting the bilateral partnership. As senator, she co-founded and co-chaired the India caucus. She has visited India more than once. She has a constituency among Indian-Americans, most of whom supported, electorally and financially, her candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

According to Dr. Prabaharan, Hillary’s visit will “help build stage III of the relationship, with India as a key partner helping America shape the 21st century. The earlier two stages were, according to her, the Cold War years and the post-Cold War period up to the end of the Bush administration and the India-US nuclear deal. She proposes to build ties on four natural platforms: global security, human development, economic activity and science and technology.”

In a few days we will have a better sense of who is right in this argument: the “dumping Delhi” faction or the “Hillary’s Darling” group.

Stay tuned.