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THE children’s book a 19-month toddler has been introduced to by her parents carries the illustrated story of tennis legend Serena Williams. The text and drawings by Mary Nhin and Yuliia Zolotova, respectively, are part of a series of books about inspirational people from past and present. “Dad would have me and Venus throw a football to each other before practising our serves,” Serena explains with useful illustrations. “It was a great way to get the snapping motion down.” Other pages in her story are anecdotal, funny and inspirational.
On the back of the dog-eared book are thumbnail sketches of 50 men and women for separate books for the new generation. From Mark Twain to Frida Kahlo, and Anne Frank to Maya Angelou, or from Rosa Parks to Marie Curie, the list traverses a gamut of new ideas and moments in history, all pointing to a mix of worthy pursuits to pick from. Three women from India have made the grade that will no doubt offend the Modi establishment.
Mother Teresa and Sonia Gandhi are shunned in their country today, but their presence among the top inspirers for children aged three to 14 years suggests that though one can put down people at home — as is the case with Nehru and Gandhi under India’s right-wing rule, for example — respect for them breaches prejudice beyond the confines of national boundaries. A third woman among the little book’s stars is Indra Nooyi from India, now a ranking US business executive.
Michelle Obama is listed but not Hillary Clinton. “In the new Mini Movers and Shakers children’s book series comes a cast of characters who have failed, yet succeeded despite overwhelming obstacles,” says the publisher. “Sometimes, we are faced with challenges that seem insurmountable. But with grit and hard work, one can achieve great things!”
How can a country’s foreign policy be independent when its PM doubles as the election agent of a US president?
Could there be a mistake here? Clinton may be down today, but she’s not out. Analysts could glean this from her Thursday speech at the Democratic Convention in New York. In words that struggled for subtlety, analysts say, she failed to rule herself out as a superior option to the struggling Joe Biden or listless Kamala Harris, potentially against Donald Trump, in 2024. Three assertions from her address are cited. “We need to focus on solutions that matter to voters.” “The struggle for unity and democracy is far from over.” “Democrats are fighting for safer communities and more opportunities … better jobs and higher wages … healthcare and housing that doesn’t break the bank.” Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders were taken care of in the last line.
Clinton’s shadow hovers over global moments, part of it in the form of the Biden policy, the outcome of her decisive role in helping candidate Biden emerge as a dark horse to evict Sanders and Warren from the primaries. Clinton didn’t qualify as an inspiration in the book for toddlers but she’s present in the China-baiting pivot to the East, in South Asia’s political wings, in the heart of the matter in Kiev, and in an invisible way in London where an ace journalist’s fate hangs in the balance. Take Prime Minister Imran Khan, who in a dire moment before a no-trust vote that threatens to upend his government prematurely, made an unusual observation about India’s foreign policy. He told the opposition that his foreign policy was like India’s, which befriends the US but buys oil from Russia. That’s the kind of independence Khan has tried to pursue, signalled recently in his controversial visit to Moscow. From several accounts that one incident may have sealed his fate.
As for India’s overstated independent foreign policy, it got an ovation from varied corners of the world when Delhi in its avatar as a global statesman shepherded the Non-Aligned Movement through the minefield of East-West rivalries. NAM’s sobering presence is sorely missed in the scary stand-off between Nato and Moscow, both using a bloodied Ukraine as a battering ram against the other.
But how could a country’s foreign policy be independent when its prime minister doubles as the election agent of a US president? India’s clout abroad, to use the word loosely, comes from an unusual nexus that hasn’t flourished in Pakistan. Who was invited to Bill Clinton’s inaugural from India? Not a president or prime minister but an Ambani scion. Who was the Indian invitee subsequently at the Bush inaugural? Another Ambani scion. At whose family wedding was Hillary Clinton a key guest? An Ambani event. Who therefore inevitably greeted Mr Modi warmly in September 2014 in New York? The Clinton couple.
“I am thrilled. No one had the knowledge and votes before you to build a national economy,” Bill Clinton reportedly told an unsurprised Mr Modi. It’s thus tempting to see India’s widely criticised Russia policy as one that’s buffered by its personalised links, which often override diplomatic overtures or demarches. Pakistan misses this handy traction in foreign relations, something that gives India its leeway, regardless of any morality, in the oil deal with a country at war with its own friends.
Mid-term elections in the US, critical for Democrats and Republicans equally, are due only in November. They could presage Hillary’s next gambit. She has her finger in the Russian pie, the reason Vladimir Putin has expressed his rage by sanctioning her (and not her husband) together with President Biden and some others. Another development, flowing from Hillary Clinton’s wrath concerns Julian Assange. Last week, he was denied a final request to appeal before the UK’s top court against his pending extradition to the US. If Assange is indeed extradited — Clinton and Biden would want him before November — it could replace the headlines should the news from Kiev not be very flattering. Publishers of the children’s book will keep their eyes peeled as there’s scope for corrigendum when wars and elections usher unexpected outcomes.
The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.
Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2022
