‘Barack and I’

US President Barack Obama’s second visit to India has set tongues wagging about his rare personal chemistry with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. From the moment Mr Obama stepped down Air Force One, the public display of affection with Mr Modi has been a “bromance”. Clasping hands, bear hugs, appreciative taps on the shoulder, sharing of jokes and frequent huddles between the two leaders have revealed them to be intimate on a one-to-one basis.

The human angle of friendship between Messrs Obama and Modi has added a special meaning to the India-US “Delhi Declaration of Friendship” released on January 25. So compelling is the mutual attraction that Mr Modi even taught a lesson in diplomacy by asserting that “relations between countries depend less on full stops and commas and more on the relationship between leaders, the chemistry between them”.

By this he implied that even as bureaucrats engage in pragmatic bilateral negotiations with their counterparts, friendship and warmth at the summit level are more decisive drivers. Indeed, political will and pressure from heads of government are confidence-boosters to iron out wrinkles in the minutiae of diplomatic give-and-take. What exactly is the secret formula behind the “Mobama” chemistry? In the words of Harvard University professor Joseph Nye, “Friendship helps, but it’s icing on the cake. The cake is national interest.” Two world leaders can hit it off only when there is an underlying convergence of material interests. Mr Modi said as much: “this chemistry has not just brought me and Barack closer but also brought Washington and Delhi — and the people of our countries — closer together.”

The prospect of US-India policy coordination to shape the strategic balance in Asia, and US-India trade and investment zooming into the stratosphere are basically Mr Nye’s “cake”. For the cake to be adorned with a captivating topping like the body language of “Mobama” is a huge bonus.

A few months ago, Mr Modi hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping in Ahmedabad and strolled alongside him on the banks of the cleaned-up Sabarmati river. The sight of the two Asian supremos rocking in a traditional Gujarati swing was a photo-op, but it could not convey a picture of genuine friendship between Messrs Modi and Xi. The reason is obvious: China and India have a trust deficit and strategic competition between each other, facets which are relatively muted in the case of the US-India equation. Notwithstanding the personal touch that Mr Modi gave to President Xi’s visit, real chumminess was missing due to the structural problem of clashing interests.

Apart from common interests, ideology is another binding factor in determining friendships among international personalities. Some of the most famous “buddies” in world history have been forged in the crucible of shared worldviews.

Former US President Ronald Reagan and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were “closest political and dearest personal friends”. Their conservative, pro-business mindsets engendered a natural bond and sustained it through the final years of the Cold War. Likewise, the personal camaraderie between Mr Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is predicated on identical cultural nationalism, conservatism and passion to reform their respective economic systems.

Since ideological affinity is the cement for fraternising, the Modi-Obama fondness is somewhat anomalous. In contrast to a decidedly business-friendly and characteristically extroverted Mr Modi, Mr Obama is a left liberal and typically aloof politician harping about inequality and admonishing “fat cat” capitalists. Ideologically, “Mobama” seems to be an oxymoron. But as the two leaders’ address to the CEOs forum on January 26 in Delhi demonstrated, both believe from their guts in the intrinsic value of expanding US-India business ties.

The American liberal and the Indian conservative are on the same page when it comes to promoting financial gains for their respective corporate sectors. Moreover, both leaders excel in using “Town Hall” type oratory as part and parcel of foreign policy. The heart-tugging address that Mr Obama delivered in Siri Fort auditorium in Delhi on January 27 is comparable to the touching speech Mr Modi gave at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Political style, ideology and national interests are not the only motors of special friendships in international relations. Circumstances also contribute. The American President during World War II, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was a dyed-in-the-wool leftist who allied with the rightist British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to ward off the systemic threat posed by the fascism of Adolf Hitler.

Hailed as an “epic friendship”, Messrs Roosevelt and Churchill were so comfortable in each other’s company that, in 1941, the former apparently walked into the White House bathroom and found the latter with “nothing to hide”. The extraordinary situation posed by Nazi peril was instrumental in this unlikely friendship.
All this is not to claim that emotions do not matter at all between individuals representing their nations. Sentiments do have an impact. Feelings-based proximity of leaders acts as a talisman to channelise hard bargaining between states because diplomatic interlocutors lower down the hierarchy get the drift that their big bosses desire a deal.

The intangible but substantial outcome of Mr Obama’s second tour of India is that his chatty equation with Mr Modi can act as a balm to soothe divergences on concrete issues.

The writer is a professor and dean of the Jindal School of International Affairs