Barack Obama sought to energise his visit to India today with a spot of Indian folk dancing, after an acknowledgement that his party's defeat in the US midterm elections last week reflected the "right, obligation and duty" of voters to express their unhappiness and a call for his hosts to try to secure peace with Pakistan.
"My hope is that over time, trust develops between the two countries, that dialogue begins, perhaps on less controversial issues, building up to more controversial issues," Obama told a meeting of students at a college in Mumbai on the second day of a four-day visit to India.
A fragile peace process between the hostile neighbours broke down after the 2008 terror attacks in the city.
Obama, whose first stop was in India's financial and commercial capital, signifying his interest in the nation's trillion-dollar economy and America's solidarity with its fight against terrorism, also told students their country "is not just a rising power" but one that "has already risen".
"[The Indian] economy has risen at a breathtaking rate ... we look forward to a greater role for India at the world stage," the president told the students in remarks broadcast live around the country.
Indian diplomats hope Obama will continue George W Bush's policy of looking to Delhi as a counterweight to Beijing. So far, however, American officials and diplomats have appeared more focused on the potential economic gains to both countries of the $10bn (£6bn) business deals that will be sealed during the visit than on geopolitical power plays.
The deals include contracts to build 1,000 locomotives for Indian railways and to supply dozens of passenger jets to private airlines. Aides to the president claim they will create more than 50,000 jobs.
Indian reaction to Obama has so far been positive but muted. "He seems strangely unconvincing. He certainly hasn't connected with the Indian people," Vir Sanghvi, the editor of the Hindustan Times, told the Guardian. "He's got to pull some kind of rabbit out of his hat to make this memorable."
Obama arrived in New Delhi todaywith his wife, Michelle, and was met by the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, who broke with protocol to personally welcome him to the Indian capital. After shaky first steps, Obama, 49, has established good relations with Singh, a 78-year-old former economist who is credited with liberalising the Indian economy in the 1990s.
The Obamas then visited Humayun's Tomb, a spectacular Mughal-era Islamic mausoleum similar in style to the Taj Mahal.
Earlier, asked by a student about "jihad", Obama called Islam a religion of peace, yet one terrorists have sought to distort. "I think all of us have to fundamentally reject the notion that violence is a way to mediate our differences," he said. The president also said he still believed a "stable Afghanistan is achievable" and reiterated his intent to begin removing US troops from the country next July.
Tomorrow, Obama will address both houses of India's parliament. Members have been told to behave in "a dignified manner" during the speech to avoid a repeat of the chaotic scenes He will leave for Indonesia on Tuesday then travel to South Korea for a G20 meeting in Seoul.
(source:guardian.co.uk)
No comments:
Post a Comment