Diplomatic umbrage
Hyperventilation by our TV anchors and the usual suspects of our political class over the wayside arrest of India’s Deputy Consul-General in New York, Dr Devyani Khobragade, and treating her like any felon in police custody, is as confusing as the behaviour of the Americans they seek to condemn. The pity of it is that there are voices in India trying to make political capital out of an issue that should be resolved with utmost diplomacy and not hype it into an ego clash between the world’s largest democracy and the world’s most powerful democracy that holds itself as a model for others. The political overtone that it is taking in India, and which may soon in the US too as retaliatory measures come into play, is fraught with the risk of making both sides take positions from which it will become hard to climb down without loss of face.
At the heart of the problem is that Washington sees the issue on technicality and that its police acted as a matter of course, while New India expects it to have been handled as discreetly as would be done in India where considerations of who and what and the circumstance can temper procedure. This approach to a crime a diplomat stands accused of, is what’s making Indians emotional and indignant while Americans react as if it does not see what the fuss is about. To the Americans, our diplomat made a false declaration of a maid’s wages to get a visa and has been paying her below US norms—crimes which attract prosecution and a cumulative a jail term of 10 to 15 years on conviction. India sees the wage declaration as merely for form—something that’s said to have been discussed with the Americans and an understanding had been in place—while actual wages are paid in rupees under an Indian agreement, since US minimum wage norms will see the employee earning more than the employer. The Americans are going by the Vienna Convention of 1963 which govern consular officials, to say our diplomat in New York cannot claim diplomatic immunity, while India, to whom Khobragade, 39, is a ranking IFS officer, expects she be accorded privileges under the Vienna Convention of 1961 which governs diplomatic missions and staff.
In such an atmosphere of difference in perception of a crime and its handling, India is justified in feeling hurt that Americans are unwilling to consider the regard and privileges American diplomats, their support staff, families and their establishments are given in India. (Khobragade was detained as she was dropping her daughter to school, handcuffed and put through all procedures criminals undergo before being produced in court and released on a $250,000 bond pending trial.) This episode has revived memories of the airport security checks former President A P J Abdul Kalam, former Defence Minister George Fernandes, former Ambassadors Meera Shankar and Hardeep Puri endured—actions a protocol-conscious India would not subject foreign VIPs and diplomats to. India should now demand reciprocity in diplomatic protocols and treat US officers only as Indian officers are treated there, but not do anything that puts life and property of US diplomats at risk by lowering security or by whipping up emotions. Reciprocity is a cardinal principle of diplomatic relations and India is obliged to value its relationship with the US no more than Washington does and show its officials courtesies no more than it cares to show Indians.
