Samantha Power was addressing an event at IIT Delhi. She particularly mentioned the US Capitol attack on 6th January 2021 after Donald Trump was defeated.
There are forces in India and the United States which seek to sow division, pit ethnicities, and religions against each other, bend laws, and abuse institutions, said USAID administrator Samantha Power. Addressing an event in IIT Delhi, she particularly addressed the US Capitol riots last year.
“The headwinds against democratic rule are strong the world over. Within the United States. Within the United States and India, there are forces who seek to sow division, who seek to pit ethnicities and religions against one another, who wish to bend laws, abuse institutions, and wield violence against those who stand their way. We saw this of course on January 6th last year”, said. How both United States and India rise to meet these injustices, how fiercely we protect our hard-earned pluralism, insistently we defend our democracy and individual rights will determine not just our own trajectory, but also the world we inhabit, she added.
The US Sees India as a World Leader
To be clear, for now, and ahead, the US sees India as a leader throughout the world. Together both nations can offer emerging countries a development model, one not rooted in debt traps, but in economic trade and integration, one that supports and celebrates individual and national agency, and one that aspires to see all countries move beyond the need for assistance, she said taking dogs at China.
Powel further said that this model should aim at engaging with a country’s citizens and civil society, just as willingly as it does with its government. It should treat others as equals and elaborates on solutions without preconceptions or stereotypes. Such a model recognizes that democracy, inclusivity, and pluralism offer the surest path to sustainable progress, where dignity is not reserved for the few but for all. Such a model believes at its core that we are all one family.
India Can Help Other Countries
India, with its talents, resources and expertise can contribute massively to the development trajectory of many countries, Power said. And yet it’s values have positioned India as a world leader. India’s multi-ethnic, multi-party democracy has allowed it to withstand the challenges it has faced and come out stronger and more resilient. India’s support for free expression has allowed injustices to come to light. Its support for diversity and dissent has allowed reforms and institutions to progress, she said. India’s trajectory is so strong not in spite of its democracy, but because of its democracy, she added.
Power also lauded India’s help to Sri Lanka and compared it with China. India had written off debts of poorer countries like Ghana, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda in 2003. And nowhere is India’s commitment to those in peril more on display than right now in Sri Lanka. India has reacted swiftly and supplied Sri Lanka with $3.5 billion credit, she remarked. Power immediately contrasted this with Chinese policies in the region. The People’s Republic of China has been the biggest creditor of Sri Lanka for over two decades. It offered opaque loans with high interests, and financed infrastructure of questionable use to the Sri Lankans, she remarked. “ Now that conditions have soured, Beijing has promised lines of credit and emergency loans. This is critical since Beijing is estimated to hold 15% of foreign debt. But calls to provide more significant relief have so far gone unanswered. And the biggest question here is whether will Beijing restructure its debt like other bilateral creditors, Power argued.
(Inputs, the Indian Express)
