Why Obama’s India Visit is Not Going to Change Much

The Obama visit is a being topic of discussion now in the United States and India. People do instinctively think that the world’s largest democracy and the world’s oldest democracy would make natural allies. However, things are not as rosy as they would seem to be. 

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Over the years, the ties between India and the United States have been strengthened. When India was formed, it had distanced itself from the United States and had traditionally leaned towards, if not allied, with the Soviet Union. Throughout the Cold War, the United States remained suspicious of India and the fact that it was more Soviet leaning made the United States more insecure about India. The United States started supporting Pakistan to counter the Indian influence in the region. Throughout the Cold War, there was this feeling of mistrust and suspicion and finally after the Cold War ended, relations between the United states and India began to thaw and India finally started to have good relations with the United States.

Indo-U.S relations enjoyed a good phase with the preceding Bush administration. The Bush administration was friendly towards India and they really did believe that India was a valuable ally in countering terrorism and other problems. He was supportive of India. He announced a civilian nuclear deal in 2006 to supply nuclear fuel to India. This deal, though very controversial, was an indication that Indo-U.S relations have gone to the next level.

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However, with the coming of the Obama administration, things have changed. The Obama administration is clearly not very supportive of India. India does not enjoy the warm relationship it had with the United States when the Bush administration was in power. Obama has always wanted to keep some sort of limits in the Indo-U.S relationship.