Dear B-R members,
This is my first post here, even though I have been a regular reader for past few years. Hello to everyone!
This would be a slightly longer post.. pls bear with me.
My 2 paisa on this whole Devyani saga:
Before saying what I think actually happened, it is imperative to debunk some of the baseless conspiracy theories going around. Too bad someone B.Raman is not there around to provide objective analysis on their blog.
De-bunking Conspiracy Theories:
There are three conspiracy theories around which rank high in absurdity chart. I thought only our good neighbor TSA thrives on conspiracy theories..guess we are not very far behind.
1. The maid's husband is a CIA spy:
That man, Richard, is neither an exceptionally talented person nor well connected to anyone in Indian strategic or government or business circles. US govt would have no use to have a spy who works as a hired help in their own consulate - unless they want to spy on their own consulate employees!
The mechanism in which the state department got them out of the country is sought to be explained with this theory, but there are several cases where justice department can bring in folks from other countries using T visas, especially from India. In fact, for the financial year 2012, India is the top nation whose citizens were brought into US through T-visas to USA. In 2012, India was issued 128 with Thailand getting 113 and Philippines getting 86. Most countries have it in single digits or zero. This indicates one and only one thing to my mind - Indians in US are among the top nationalities claiming human trafficking for getting asylum in US. One might be surprised that Mexico is not in this list as Mexicans mostly come to India on their own risk (not trafficked by others), but the most logical theory one can have given the public information in this case is that Indians might generally (claim to) be trafficked as nannies / maids and Thailand folks might be trafficked to US for other reasons that Thailand is notorious for.
(check page 10 for visa by nationality)
http://www.travel.state.gov/pdf/FY12Ann ... leXVII.pdf
OT: I was surprised at the very high number of Chinese F-1 visas (order of magnitude higher than India's) but India beats them in B-1/2 visas and H visas (all work visas where as F visas are student visas).
imho, it is safe to discard this conspiracy theory unless someone can provide some solid fact indicating otherwise.
2. The maid was a plant by Massa to get confidential data from DK (Ms. Kobragade):
If the maid was a plant, the most illogical thing the maid would do is to ask for a pay raise, demand passport to go back to India, trigger blackmail and make matters complicated on her own volition soon after moving to US. There is just no public evidence or any statement from DK that suggests that there is reason to suspect the maid of any such thing. Besides US has very easy mechanisms to get Indian embassy's data. Given the low security standards and poor quality of Indian IT security employees in government organizations (I heard funny stories of government employed IT people - who are those that generally cannot get job in private IT sector), I expect all our official Internet / fax / phone communication to be compromised. NSA even hoodwinked Google which has among the best Internet security arrangements in the world. Hacking into computers and email exchanges of Indian embassy officials would be child's play for NSA than to depend on a new/un-reliable stay at home maid with limited education. Even if they did (for argument sake), they would have advised the maid to behave with lot more discretion. It strains my common sense to give any merit to this conspiracy theory.
3. It is a revenge of some sorts / US sending a message to India:
It is typical Indo-Pak mentality to harass each other's embassy staff. With the level of influence that US has in Delhi's political and diplomatic circles, they can get any Indian official who is perceived to insults them with just a phone call. US does not need to (and
it is not their standard MO) to send a message to another country this way. US can send any message to India directly and in an unambiguous manner. It would be plain stupid of US to try to send a message to MEA this way. US in diplomatic circles is known for sending clear, unambiguous message. Only some countries like China send out unclear / mixed messages, but even they do not do it in a way that would put their own diplomatic staff at risk in a reciprocal move. The only country that indulges in this sort of despicable move is TSP and India retaliates in kind. This theory ranks along with other two theories in its absurdity, imho.
My 2c on home hawkish Actions proposed:
1. Use Article 377:
This is probably the ugliest and most condemn-able idea. Article 377 is a colonial appendage that should have been rectified long long ago. Indian civilization (and Hindu culture which forms a major part of Indian culture) has recognized transgenders and gays. Eminent Hindu leaders like Sri Sri Ravishankar-ji or modern interpreters of Hinduism such as Devdutt Patnaik are against this law. Unfortunately Ramdev is not an example of the inclusive mindset of Indian / Hindu culture. Our culture is very inclusive.
While our culture does not promote transgenders or gays, it does not treat them as less than human either. There are examples from Puranas and Mahabharat w.r.to. transgenders and gays. There are multiple ancient sculptures and Indian paintings that clearly indicate what Article 377 calls as "sex against natural order" which is an euphemism for oral or anal sex by homogeneous or heterogeneous couples.
Major party leaders such as Mr. Sinha publicly making such suggestions has made India laughing stock of liberal world. The last thing we want is to convert our society with its inclusive, tolerant ethos into a fundamentalist, narrow dictatorial societies like those in middle east. As both Indian and Hindu, I am strongly against such suggestions. Lot of PR harm has been done to the International perception about Indian culture with this uncultured suggestion getting wide coverage in media and no major public condemnation of this suggestion by Indian media or government.
2. Cancel diplomatic relations with US or reduce it to trade missions:
This is an extreme emotional response which doesn't have any grounding in reality. One does not even know where to begin to respond when we see such suggestions. Fortunately no such extreme, unrealistic suggestion has been made in public media by persons of eminence. If so, it would have caused severe damage to our reputation as intelligent thinkers.
That said, there are lot of suggestions in BR that added to very valuable discussion and enriched my perspective. I am grateful for this discussion thread.
Without being clear on what happened, we cannot be clear on what our response should be. Going by the publicly available evidence so far, I arrive at the following:
Root Cause that triggered this issue of arrest of DK:
I arrive at two possibilities (reality could be a combination of both) all of which are very straight forward and nothing fancy like the conspiracy theorists would like to believe:
1. Maid abuse by DK:
If one goes by the salary paid to the maid and the allegations by the maid, it indicates a clear case of maid abuse on both ethical grounds and US law. One cannot argue that US law doesn't apply to this case, as it was clear from Malhotra's case earlier that it was indeed applicable to Indian consular staff that do not have full diplomatic immunity. DK should have known that. Other practices such as having to work very long hours and DK confiscating the passport of the maid and not allowing her to return to India are highly disturbing and should be investigated by GOI to ensure that no Indian diplomat or high official abuses their maids who will be generally helpless against their employers with power, influence and immunity. The pace and force with which DK's family in India went against the maid indicate intimidating tactics by DK and not magnanimity of an employer towards her hired help.
The fact that India is the country with the highest number of human trafficking related visas indicates that this problem is widespread by NRI community in US and not just Indian diplomats. I am sure old timers would remember the case of some successful businessman Reddy in California several years ago who abused their maids from Andra Pradesh and treated them as slaves? The Reddys got several years in prison after one of their maids died. Maid abuse is a huge problem in India. Having visited / lived in multiple countries, I can say that maid abuse is a real problem and in many Indian households maids are treated less than human (in many cases even under age children are used as maids with their parents paid a pittance - clear case of indentured labor). Interestingly, the public prosecutor in Reddy's case was also of Indian origin.
2. Maid is a blackmailer and exaaggerated to gain Immigration status for her and her family:
It is very possible that the maid used her under-pay situation (which is an undeniable fact) to her advantage and with "mis-guidance" from immigration attorney filed a case of exaggerated claim and abuse. Couple this with an extremely activist and ambitious Preet Barara who is always on look out for high-profile cases, we have a clear explanation for Justice department seeking immunity for the maid and her family and state department issuing T visas to maids husband Richard. Note that issuing T visas for Indians accused of human trafficking seems to be a norm for state department.
Another point of view one can take is that India being the top country in terms of maid abuse (I am talking only about public perception and actual case of complaints which may or may not be reflective of facts on ground) has US justice department looking for a high profile Indian to make an example of. It seems the agents that actually made arrest of DK were very courteous and only the the US Marshalls at the prison followed their "standard procedure". Handcuffing is THE norm in US. Even when they arrest senators or governors or the head of IMF, they are hand-cuffed. I wouldn't be surprised if the IMF head who was arrested for sexual abuse complaint by a hotel maid was strip searched, but I wouldn't exclude that. Most low level US employees are ignorant of notions such as diplomatic immunity and are very procedural.
Note that I am not justifying US actions. I think automatic strip search for non violent, non-drug related crimes is a very inhuman practice that deserves severe condemnation by every right thinking person. I hope DK's case acts as a wake up call for US to do some introspection and correct such a barbaric practice.
What is the key Issue here?
The issue here is not whether DK was right in her actions or she really abused the maid. The issue here is not about what is the standard prison intake process in US. Even if Russians or Chinese officials were arrested I think they would have got the same treatment.
However,
the root of the issue is why was she arrested when US government could have expelled her. Going by facts publicly available, I do think DK potentially abused the maid and would have fully supported her arrest if she was not an consulate official. The issue here is State department authorizing her arrest and causing a diplomatic incident. US being a very procedure oriented country, once an arrest is authorized, it is not easy to do away with the standard procedure. Most Americans are immune to strip search and wouldn't even understand what the big deal about it is.
Both parties seem to have made mistakes. What would have been the right actions here?
For GOI:
Given the US history against slavery, laws against human trafficking and indentured labor (modern kind of slavery) are very strong and issue is very sensitive in US. They are similar to how laws against abuse of dalits are very strong and sensitive in India. After Malhotra's case and when NY laws changed in 2011 to insist on giving local minimum wage for maids by consulate officials, GOI should have woken up and ensured that our diplomats dont abuse maids or lie on record. If anything IFS should have understood this more than anyone else - it is their job to get a clear perception of the host countries civil, societal and strategic thinking and plans.
Second mistake by GOI is not recalling DK when the maid filed a complaint. DK's husband is a US citizen and has a strong case against her in US. Both of these make her open to manipulation by US if they wanted. Our default SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) should be an immediate recall of such employees who could be arm twisted to compromise.
US State department:
For the US State department, right action would have been to ask India to expel such diplomats who indulge in maid abuse / trafficking (or discretely ask India to take her back and ensure that maid abuse does not happen in our embassies).
US cops / justice department:
They should have exercised judgement and did away with the strip search as it was not mandatory. Hand-cuffing is not optional process in US as even the IMF president (a French national) was hand-cuffed when his hotel maid complained against him.
The damage:
Given the strategic long term and current tactical tensions between US and China US has been trying to build a strategic relation with India for last 10+ years. There are some old cold war anti-India elements in US State department who sometimes act as stumbling blocks to this, but given the trajectory of US - India relations and US starting to sell hi-tech military hardware previously reserved only for NATO allies, and the increasing army to army relations and joint exercises are strong examples of this. It was a stupid action most likely caused by some dim-wits in State department. Unfortunate reality of cold war with India's socialist leaning had India and US in opposite camps even when they were natural partners. Right when this was being rectified this incident happened causing severe even if repairable damage to our relations.
My 2c on what to do next:
India should assert its immunity for our diplomat and get her to safety. At the same time, we should constitute a commission to inquire into accusations of maid abuse and change policies so that it cannot happen. Realistically, asking for formal apology would not work as US does not apologize. Even when their 22 naval officers were arrested by China in their spy plane case and China vehemently demanded an apology, US only issued regret. I think we should accept the regret (given that DK may not be clean in this issue) and work out a mechanism to get DK to India and be prosecuted by Indian laws if she really abused the maid. If an out of court settlement can be had with the maid, we should do it and bring the issue to a quick end. We accomplished part of what we had to achieve - to make state department treat Indian consulate officials with same respect they accord to Russian or Chinese diplomats. We extracted a regret from secretary of state and it is time to move ahead in a face-saving way for both countries.
As inclusive progressive civilizations that value diversity, freedom of religion and democratic ideals, India and US are natural partners. Many crucial US thinkers that shaped US civilization (Ex: Thoreau, Martin Luther King Jr.) were influenced by India (vedic wisdom and Gandhiji's thought respectively) and in-turn influenced Indian thinkers (Gandhiji was influenced by Thoreau and some dalit thinkers (not leaders) claim to be influenced by Martin Luther King Jr.). US was a country that strongly supported India's independence and Gandhiji's was a darling of US media which exerted pressure on Britain to some extent. Despite cold war, US presidents such as Kennedy were sincere in seeking closer relations and friendship with India (It was Nehru who spurned Kennedy and not other way) and in India- China war and in the later food crisis, Kennedy strongly stood by India and avoided two disasters (humiliating Chinese defeat and large scale famine). We need to take our relationship forward and work to undo the mis-trust this incident has caused.
