Eric Garcetti. (File Photo | AFP)
Eric Garcetti. (File Photo | AFP)

Won’t be easy for new US envoy to walk the rights talk

The country’s economy is already the fifth largest and hopes to jump two more places up the international table in just a few years.

Twenty months after President Joe Biden first proposed former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti as the next US envoy to India, the Senate gave him a 52-42 green light with some bipartisan support. His nomination was Biden’s payback as Garcetti was a prominent member of his presidential campaign team. Biden persisted with him though his confirmation got unduly delayed as he faced allegations of ignoring incidents of sexual harassment against his former top aide, a charge he continues to deny. Garcetti’s political sense is top-notch. He is credited with playing a crucial role in Biden’s selecting of Indian-American Kamala Harris as his running mate. His easy access to Biden is another plus. However, he is seen as a lightweight without the requisite expertise for such a high-profile position. He needs to pick up those skills on the go.

Garcetti’s appointment comes when New Delhi is buzzing with diplomatic activity because of its G20 presidency. India decided to buy cheap Russian crude despite Western sanctions following the Ukraine invasion, showing its determination to pursue an independent foreign policy. It is increasingly positioning itself as the democratic counterweight to an autocratic China in the region through multilateral alliances, which serves global interests to keep the Indo-Pacific region open and safe. The country’s economy is already the fifth largest and hopes to jump two more places up the international table in just a few years. It also aspires to become a global factory by drawing big businesses wary of China. The likes of telecom major Apple and aviation biggie Boeing have already flown in. Garcetti’s arrival may give the process a fillip. In another convergence, a bipartisan resolution in the US Senate seeks to sanctify the McMahon line that defines the Sino-Indian border in Arunachal Pradesh, a pushback on China’s attempts to grab the Northeastern state.

Garcetti considers himself an activist-politician. During his confirmation hearing at the Senate’s foreign relations committee in December 2021, he had said issues of human rights and discrimination in India would be at the core of his diplomatic engagement. Does that mean he would, for instance, take a public position on Article 370 in J&K months before it is due to go to the polls? Or on the hyperactivity of Central law enforcement agencies against the opposition? Given how prickly the ruling dispensation is to criticism, it is to be seen if Garcetti would want to walk the talk.

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The New Indian Express
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