File photo / Reuters

As the long and punishing US presidential election process winds down on Tuesday, November 5th, there is a great deal of anxiety in many parts of the world, including India—the world’s largest democracy. I have been in India for two weeks and met family, friends, politicians, bureaucrats, scholars, and public intellectuals. Most are happy and optimistic about India. However, there appears to be much uncertainty regarding US domestic politics and its international ramifications, including the US-India relationship.   

Indians, including many elites, do not have a deeper understanding of American politics, just as most American scholars and India experts lack deeper insights into Indian society and political complex. Most Indians get information about US politics from the US-based left-progressive legacy media. As a result, they end up having a highly slanted view of US politics. For example, most Indians have uncritical progressive views on deeply polarizing political issues such as the Second Amendment and gun laws, abortion, January 6, etc. 

Indians may also not understand the complexity of the American Republican democracy, electoral college, primaries process, etc. India has a Westmister-style majoritarian parliamentary democracy. But Indians are also often amused, oftentimes to the point of ridicule, when they mention the long and contentious ballot counting process and extremely liberal voter ID requirements. In contrast, India conducts elections in the stipulated areas in one day. There is no multiple-day voting, and mail-in ballots are rare. The  Election Commission of India, an independent constitutional body with a mandate to hold free, fair, and transparent elections within the time frame stipulated by the Constitution of India,  issues ID cards to all voters who must verify their identity when voting. Most results are declared within a matter of a few hours. 

Most Indians want to emulate the American story, where freedom, hard work, honesty, and meritocracy are closely tied to material success. The last few decades have brought Indians closer to the US than any other country. Indians also understand that their security and prosperity are closely tied to the US. However, the Biden-Harris administration’s inability to broker peace in Europe and the Middle East has severely undermined America’s standing in the eyes of Indians. 

The Biden-Harris administration’s handling of Khalistani extremism in the US has created an uneasy situation among Indians. They question America’s double standard in dealing with issues of national security. While the US security agencies can kill a 70-year-old Utah man suspected of threatening President Joe Biden, a man who issues video threats of blowing up an Indian airliner and killing India’s Prime Minister, its diplomats and Hindu Americans get sheltered by the US administration under the pretext of freedom of speech, they allege.

Indians are also profoundly religious and family-oriented. Indian society is inherently liberal due to the legacy of tolerant Hindu culture. However, they see the progressive woke agenda being pushed in the US as an affront to their traditional values and religious identity. They also decry America’s inability to protect the Hindu minority and their places of worship in the US. They point out that America’s USCIRF (United States Commission of International Religious Freedom), a State Department agency, frequently berates Indians on these counts even when the scale of such violations is minuscule, considering India’s population size.

Indians also raise concerns about US involvement in India’s neighborhood, namely Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. India had to scramble to deal with the situation arising out of the sudden US withdrawal from Afghanistan that handed the country to the Islamist Talibani control. 

Pakistanis alleged US interference in their February election earlier this year. The US House of Representatives passed a resolution on June 26, 2024, raising questions about the credibility of Pakistani elections. Imran Khan, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, has accused senior State Department officials of regime change in his country. 

The installation of the military-backed Younus government in Bangladesh, in which most Indians see a clear US hand, has disturbed India’s delicate relationship with its eastern neighbor. Amid reports of religious persecution by the new pro-Islamist Bangladeshi regime, Indians are also concerned about the safety and security of the country’s Hindu minority.

As China continues with its ambitious rise, is the US political system—as imperfect and chaotic as it may be—still capable of navigating the complexity of an increasingly multipolar world with diminishing American power in the international arena? That is the question, in a nutshell, on everyone’s mind.

 

The author is a linguist and a recipient of the San Francisco Press Club's Journalism Awards. 

(The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of New India Abroad)