Poles Attract

The two countries also have another major foreign policy interest in common—to avert the clash of civilisations that is expressed through 21st-century terrorism and the responses to it. The Bush administration's strategies thus far are a major impediment to closer Indian cooperation. But the issue itself has a vast reach. Rethinking it in the US, and new thinking on it in India, will intensify in the months to come. My guess is that we are going to see a new convergence between Indian and US policymakers on a rules-based response to terrorism and its root causes in the next year or two.

At the end of the day, the strong pull of India-US relations lies in the fact that each country respects the other's independence, without being overawed by or contemptuous of their asymmetries in power.

This is an unusual position for a developing world country like India, and could be a critical impetus for economic and policy growth. Unfortunately, most Indians, especially those in policymaking or analysis, don't yet believe that US policymakers have a newfound respect for them or their country. Jairam Ramesh once summed up the middle-class urban Indian's response to the US as "Yankee go home, but take me with you". The Yankee did take plenty of Indians home with him, and the Indian diaspora has since been a prime mover in America's new warmth towards India.

What quality of the Indian diaspora did Americans appreciate so much that it changed US attitudes towards the country of their origin, India? An entrepreneurial spirit built on a deep and confident individuality. What Americans most respect is an individual who can seize opportunity; and India specialises in individuals who crave opportunity.

Two ones—as in I—can make magic together, even if it might appear at first to be an illusion. The illusion today is to think that we are in an evanescent relationship with the US. The reality is that Indian and US leaders are laying the foundation of a relationship that will persist and grow despite differences in foreign policy or changes of government. When the illusion clears, that is the magic we will see.