An Obama twist to Diwali

W hat were West Samoans, Chinese, Japanese and other assorted non-Indians doing at the White House Diwali party this year? Elementary! It wasn’t a Diwali party! Merely a Diwali ``observance’’, as an Obama aide put it. Barack Obama’s penchant for wide-angle views turned George Bush’s annual exclusive do for the NRI and American Indian communities into a pan-Asian jamboree with south Pacific islanders thrown in to broaden the horizon a wee bit more. Call it killing two birds with one stone.

Or simply some adept multi-tasking. Obama lit the traditional diya and at the same time signed an executive order re-establishing Bill Clinton’s Asian American and Pacific Islanders initiative. To the chagrin of his Indian guests, the US president’s speech was more about the AAPI than Diwali. He waxed eloquent about Wat Misaka (a Japanese-American former basketball player), Gary Locke (a Chinese-American politician) and Jake Kirihara (a World War II veteran of Japanese-American descent). He spoke about his Hawaiian Obama family and his half-Indonesian half-sister, Maya.

Diwali came almost as a footnote, in the last three paragraphs of his speech. He described it as a festival for Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists. It seems the desi community is quite peeved at this dilution of what used to be their special day out at the White House. Indians better get real. The days of being pampered a la George Bush are over.

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Wait! Here’s one more opportunity to bask in Bush warmth. The former US president will be in Delhi next week as a guest speaker at an annual media event. Given the special rapport they enjoyed, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is hosting a private lunch for Bush. It will give them an opportunity to exchange notes before the PM flies to Washington in November as Obama’s first state guest since assuming office. Will the Obama-Singh meeting figure on the luncheon menu?

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Chidambaram’s offer of a ``quiet dialogue’’ for a ``unique solution’’ to the Kashmir problem has sent his popularity rating soaring in the Valley. Newspapers in Kashmir haven’t stopped singing his praises after his visit to Srinagar last week. One paper described him as ``different’’. Another said he was ``one of the better home ministers’’. A third eulogised him for his ``iconoclastic approach’’. A fourth declared that he was the first Indian leader to sound realistic on Kashmir. The acclaim came from both the English and Urdu press, indicating that his words resonated across class and language barriers. And this is someone who was reviled as finance minister in the first term of the UPA government for being inflexible, inaccessible and a nay-sayer. Put a man in the right job and watch the metamorphosis. Can Manmohan Singh top the Chidambaram effect when he visits Srinagar next week? The PM’s men are working the back channels furiously to prepare the ground for a pathbreaking announcement.
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Tailpiece
The essential sycophantic nature of Congress workers spilled over when Manmohan Singh visited Mumbai recently to campaign for the party in the assembly elections. They surrounded him and gushed that he is their A Left MP is feeling rather disgruntled that he missed out on liquor king Vijay Mallya’s Diwali gift of a bottle of Scotch whisky. Mallya sent bottles of Black Dog to all 793 Members of Parliament. Unfortunately, this particular Marxist was away in his constituency when they were being distributed. His driver was heard grumbling that the gate must have been locked when Mallya’s Santa Claus made his rounds. That’s why they missed out, he lamented. Looks like the driver was as heartbroken as the MP!