The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s five-day-trip to India revealed glimpses of Washington’s tightening strategic grip over New Delhi. While all her public pronouncements catered to the Indian ruling classes’ big power ambition, the actual negotiations and agreements were marked by significant concessions on India’s part.

During her five-day stay, Hillary Clinton did everything to create the atmospherics to raise the Indo-US strategic partnership to a new level (she called it 3.0). She met the Foreign Minister, Environment Minister, the Prime Minister, the UPA chief and the leader of the Opposition; she also met corporate heads, Bollywood heroes, NGO members, agricultural scientists and addressed students in Mumbai and Delhi. And of course she began her trip by visiting and staying at the Taj hotel in Mumbai, which was one of the key sites of the November 26 terrorist attack. From now on the two foreign ministers will meet annually to advance the strategic dialogue focusing on a wide range of bilateral, global, and regional issues.

Quite often she described India as an emerging ‘global power’ and underlined the need to promote Indo-US cooperation to meet global challenges. The obvious implications are that the US would like India to toe its line whether in relation to the WTO Doha round or in accepting the developed world’s dictate on capping carbon emissions. During her joint press conference with Foreign Minister SM Krishna, she also made it a point to underscore India’s agreement with the US on the question of Iran’s nuclear programmes.

The implications have been spelt out quite unambiguously in an editorial in The New York Times: “… it is time for India to take more responsibility internationally. It needs to do more to revive the world trade talks it helped torpedo last year and – as a major contributor to global warming – to join the developed countries in cutting greenhouse gas emissions… India wants to be seen as a major world power. For that to happen, it will have to drop its pretensions to nonalignment and stake out strong and constructive positions.”

The thrust of Hillary’s visit consisted in clearing the ground for major defence deals between the two countries. The key step in this context is the End-Use Monitoring Agreement (EUMA), a pre-condition for US military manufacturers to sell their wares in India, which will enable the US to closely monitor Indian defence purchase including rights of on-site inspection of India’s defence installations.

The EUMA will pave the way for high-end sensors, radars and weapon systems to be fitted on the aircraft being purchased under the already-inked $2.1 billion contract for eight Boeing P-8I maritime reconnaissance planes and the $962 million one for six C-130J ‘Super Hercules’ planes. It will also govern all future deals, including the ‘mother of all defence deals’: the $10.4-billion project to acquire 126 medium multi-role combat aircrafts for the IAF in which both Lockheed Martin and Boeing are engaged in aggressive competitive bidding.

Meanwhile, the G8 has banned transfer of enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technology to any non-NPT country. While the US makes vague promises of technology transfer, India will have to satisfy the IAEA and the NPT establishment to have any real access to ENR technology. Even as the US thus continues to refrain from making any categorical commitment, India has already confirmed sites for two nuclear parks (reportedly in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat) for the US to export nuclear reactors to India. Hillary happily acknowledged that “it will … facilitate billions of dollars of US reactor exports and create jobs in both countries…”

The US India Business Council, an influential advocacy group representing American companies doing business in India, was also quick to hail the EUMA. “Such an agreement will enable defence and security trade between the US and India as never before, and will facilitate the participation of US companies in supporting India in transforming its military and homeland security apparatus,” said the USBC. It also asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to increase the cap on foreign direct investment in the defence sector to 49 per cent.

For the US, strategic partnership with India is a win-win game. The US will get its military and defence orders worth billions of dollars, a key stimulus for a recession-hit US economy. And then in the name of “supporting India in transforming its military and homeland security apparatus” the US will have a growing say in India’s entire framework of defence and internal security. Economy, defence, internal security and foreign policy – the American shadow will henceforth be increasingly visible in every core area of India’s national life.

No self-respecting country can volunteer to succumb to this blueprint of American domination. Indian people must stop the UPA-II from mortgaging the country’s interests to the intricate design of US imperialism and its military-industrial complex.