On Wednesday, when US President Barack Obama nominated Merrick B. Garland to be his country's 113th Supreme Court justice, he broke the hearts of thousands of Indians.
But why should Indians be disappointed at the appointment of a US Supreme Court judge?
The reason is simple. By choosing Judge Garland as the associate justice, Obama passed over two other federal appellate judges, on his short list, who were both qualified for that position.
One was Sri Srinivasan, 49, of Indian descent, and another was Paul Watford, 48, an African-American.
Many in India were hoping that Sri Srinivasan, whose parents had migrated to USA when he was just 7 years old, would be chosen by Obama to fill the position that fell vacant after associate justice Antonin Scalia's death in February 2016.
The appointment of a US citizen of Indian origin to one of these top nine positions of US federal court system is not going to affect India, in anyway. But there is simply that vicarious pleasure, among Indians, to see someone from their ilk in those higher echelons.
This Indian disillusionment now, I feel, is actually much less than when another Indian lost to North Korea’s Ban Ki Moon, and failed to become – what would have been – the first Indian Secretary General of the United Nations.
Shashi Tharoor had risen, after 29 years at the UN, to the rank of the Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information there. He had served during the time when Kofi Annan was heading the United Nations.
But Tharoor finished second in the United Nations Secretary-General selection of 2006.
After four straw polls, in which each of the 15 member states of Security Council were asked whether they would ‘encourage’ or ‘discourage’ each of the official candidates (or if they had ‘no opinion’ on the candidate), it was found that Ban Ki-moon and Shashi Tharoor topped each of these polls.
In the fourth poll, however, Ban emerged as the only candidate with the support of all five permanent members, each of whom has the power to veto candidates; Shashi Tharoor had received more overall 'encourage' votes in some previous straw polls but China indicated it would veto Tharoor, who is Indian.
Actually, one Permanent Member (later revealed to be the US under the Bush Administration) opposed Tharoor’s candidature, and China had abstained from voting. And there went crumbling the hopes of millions of Indians!
Yet another Indian disillusionment of this kind, I think, occurred when Montek Singh Ahluwalia lost a rare opportunity.
This Indian economist and civil servant who served also as the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of India, and who had even worked in IMF (International Monetary Fund), was among the frontrunners for the position of the Managing Director of IMF.
But France’s Christine Lagarde, won against Montek Singh and a couple of others, to take up the position vacated by Dominique Strauss-Kahn the former head of IMF who got caught in a sexual assault case, in New York.
Seeing this, one cannot grudge the Indians for a soft glow of pride as they realise that the Indian influence on the global stage is undoubtedly on the rise.
And it is not merely because Indians are now heading the global giants like Google, Microsoft, Adobe and PepsiCo.
But why should Indians be disappointed at the appointment of a US Supreme Court judge?
The reason is simple. By choosing Judge Garland as the associate justice, Obama passed over two other federal appellate judges, on his short list, who were both qualified for that position.
One was Sri Srinivasan, 49, of Indian descent, and another was Paul Watford, 48, an African-American.
Many in India were hoping that Sri Srinivasan, whose parents had migrated to USA when he was just 7 years old, would be chosen by Obama to fill the position that fell vacant after associate justice Antonin Scalia's death in February 2016.
The appointment of a US citizen of Indian origin to one of these top nine positions of US federal court system is not going to affect India, in anyway. But there is simply that vicarious pleasure, among Indians, to see someone from their ilk in those higher echelons.
This Indian disillusionment now, I feel, is actually much less than when another Indian lost to North Korea’s Ban Ki Moon, and failed to become – what would have been – the first Indian Secretary General of the United Nations.
Shashi Tharoor had risen, after 29 years at the UN, to the rank of the Under-Secretary General for Communications and Public Information there. He had served during the time when Kofi Annan was heading the United Nations.
But Tharoor finished second in the United Nations Secretary-General selection of 2006.
After four straw polls, in which each of the 15 member states of Security Council were asked whether they would ‘encourage’ or ‘discourage’ each of the official candidates (or if they had ‘no opinion’ on the candidate), it was found that Ban Ki-moon and Shashi Tharoor topped each of these polls.
In the fourth poll, however, Ban emerged as the only candidate with the support of all five permanent members, each of whom has the power to veto candidates; Shashi Tharoor had received more overall 'encourage' votes in some previous straw polls but China indicated it would veto Tharoor, who is Indian.
Actually, one Permanent Member (later revealed to be the US under the Bush Administration) opposed Tharoor’s candidature, and China had abstained from voting. And there went crumbling the hopes of millions of Indians!
Yet another Indian disillusionment of this kind, I think, occurred when Montek Singh Ahluwalia lost a rare opportunity.
This Indian economist and civil servant who served also as the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission of India, and who had even worked in IMF (International Monetary Fund), was among the frontrunners for the position of the Managing Director of IMF.
But France’s Christine Lagarde, won against Montek Singh and a couple of others, to take up the position vacated by Dominique Strauss-Kahn the former head of IMF who got caught in a sexual assault case, in New York.
Seeing this, one cannot grudge the Indians for a soft glow of pride as they realise that the Indian influence on the global stage is undoubtedly on the rise.
And it is not merely because Indians are now heading the global giants like Google, Microsoft, Adobe and PepsiCo.
No comments:
Post a Comment