Raking up xenophobia

US President Joe Biden’s bracketing of allies India and Japan with Russia and China in a campaign speech could be attributed to political expediency. Speaking at a fundraiser last week, Biden sought to bring new immigrants into the party fold by praising their decision to opt for America. He also tried to placate the cynics within the party over the recent unabated immigration that has overwhelmed America’s border with Mexico. Biden may have succeeded in neither attempt when he alleged that there was a direct link between the ‘faltering economies’ of the four countries and their ‘xenophobic’ attitude towards immigration.

Other countries can speak for themselves, but it is a stretch to call India xenophobic or pathologically averse to foreigners. Post-Independence India has had no refugee policy; political calculations have decided the kind of reception given to those fleeing persecution or an economic meltdown, as is the case in the US. The Citizenship Amendment Act, cited by Foreign Minister S Jaishankar to counter Biden’s comment, is limited in scope and intent. But migrants since ages have found a happy home here, though it was crowded, complex and competitive.

From a foreign policy standpoint, Biden was tarring countries that are vital American partners at a time when the Great Power rivalry is back and there is no longer any undisputed superpower. Both India and Japan, whom he called xenophobic, are part of the Quad that offers strategic and economic competition to China. The ceaseless hounding of the Indian government by the masters of black operations in the Gurpatwant Singh Pannun case is also ill-timed. To remain on top of the perch in an evolving world order, the US must bolster its network of regional alliances and institutions. 

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