Team TrickyScribe: When Barack Obama visited India in 2010, he encountered a nation standing at a crossroads—economically resurgent yet socially fragmented. In his memoir A Promised Land, Obama details his candid exchanges with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, offering readers a deeply humanized portrayal of diplomacy in action. These moments, largely undocumented by media, reveal the mutual respect between the two leaders, alongside concerns about India’s trajectory in a globalized but increasingly polarized world.
The Man Behind the Office
Obama’s portrait of Singh is one of admiration: a “self-effacing technocrat” who had led India’s economic liberalization in the 1990s and embodied “uncommon wisdom and decency” . Singh’s identity as a member of the Sikh minority who had risen to the highest elected office in the world’s largest democracy stood as a testament to India’s constitutional ideals. However, Obama wondered aloud whether Singh’s rise was a representation of India’s future—or an exception within its enduring sectarian framework .
Private Diplomacy in Delhi
During a dinner hosted at Singh’s residence, the two leaders conversed in private—a moment away from diplomatic formalities. Singh spoke openly about the challenges confronting India: the economic slowdown post the 2008 global financial crisis and the socio-political strain from Pakistan’s failure to act on the 2008 Mumbai attacks. Despite his restraint in avoiding retaliation, Singh faced issues including rising domestic discontent, rise of the BJP opposition.
“He feared that rising anti-Muslim sentiment had strengthened the influence of India’s main opposition party, the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),” wrote Obama in Chapter 24 of his much-publicised book A Promised Land.
Singh’s concerns echoed globally relevant themes. “In uncertain times, Mr. President,” he said, “the call of religious and ethnic solidarity can be intoxicating. And it’s not so hard for politicians to exploit that, in India or anywhere else” . This remark, according to Obama, connected deeply with his own concerns over rising illiberalism, witnessed both in the U.S. through the Tea Party and in Europe.
A Mirror of Democratic Contradictions
Obama’s reflections on India highlight the tension between the country’s democratic aspirations and its enduring inequalities. He critiques how caste, clan, and religious identity continued to dominate politics, making Singh’s tenure appear as a symbolic departure rather than a substantive shift. Singh, despite his personal integrity and technocratic successes, owed his premiership to Sonia Gandhi’s political calculus, which positioned him as a non-threatening interim leader until her son, Rahul Gandhi, was ready .
At the same dinner, Obama observed the power dynamics firsthand. Sonia Gandhi, poised and reserved, subtly steered conversations toward her son, while Rahul Gandhi appeared well-meaning but uncertain—a “student… eager to impress the teacher but… lacked either the aptitude or the passion” .
Legacy and the Shadow of Nationalism
As Singh walked the Obamas to their car that night, visibly fatigued and elderly, Obama was struck by the fragility of India’s liberal democratic moment. Would Singh’s departure mean a return to more divisive political rhetoric? He feared that India’s complex social fabric might soon unravel under the weight of populist nationalism—a concern validated in subsequent years.
For Obama, Singh exemplified the post-Cold War democratic playbook: uphold institutions, drive economic growth, and improve access to welfare. Yet he questioned whether these technocratic achievements were enough to contain the primal impulses of greed, tribalism, and fear that demagogues could manipulate during periods of uncertainty.
Obama Recollects Dialogue With Manmohan Singh
Barack Obama’s recollections of his dialogue with Manmohan Singh are more than diplomatic anecdotes; they are a meditation on the vulnerability of democratic institutions in pluralistic societies. The conversation underscores the shared struggles of India and the United States, where democracy’s endurance often depends less on constitutional frameworks and more on the moral stamina of its stewards. Singh’s quiet decency and foresight stood in stark contrast to the rising global trend of identity-driven politics—a divergence that makes their exchange all the more poignant in hindsight.
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