In the report titled Toward Realistic US-India relations, authored by George Perkovich of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, he cites an exchange between a senior White House official and an Indian businessman on Iran, which shows how poorly American officials understood India for all the talk of a strategic partnership.
In a section sub-titled Democracy: Practising Not Preaching, the report recalls how "in a recent meeting, a high-level White House official suggested that India could help isolate Iran's government by publicly demanding that it stop repressing its democracy movement."
It said, "An immensely successful businessman," who runs a "global business and is not imbued with the non-aligned sensitivities of yesteryear," had gently countered that "this approach would backfire in two ways."
"He averred that India's political circles would bristle at being told what to do, and Iran's leaders would defiantly rebuff public demands."
Perkovich, vice president for Studies at CEIP, argued that "this exchange was a remarkable indicator of how poorly American officials understand India, notwithstanding all the talk of partnership."
He said in his report, "Beyond India's historical and ideological aversion to meddling in other's affairs, India's own imperfections -- such as human rights abuses in Kashmir and the 2002 pogrom in Gujarat -- make it vulnerable to a political counter-attack if it were to self-righteously hector others, especially in the Muslim world."
"Similarly," he pointed out that "American officials recently have urged India to press Myanmar's junta to respect the human rights of Aung San Suu Kyi's Gandhian-style movement. But New Delhi has remained quiet to curry favour with the junta, refusing to condemn Suu Kyi's latest trial and conviction or join US sanctions on Myanmar."
Perkovich said, "Regardless of whether the US or Indian approach is wider, the point here is that they differ despite their shared attachments to democracy."
