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bLINkEN’S SINGLE-PoINT AGENDA IN DELhI – chINA
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By m.K. BHadraKumar
The overnight visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to New Delhi has been an eye-opener in many ways. It highlighted how much India has changed through the searing pain and suffering it underwent in the past oneyear period and how that tumultuous period also led to a reset in the government’s calculus.
A rethink in the foreign policies became inevitable. The ‘body language’ of the joint press conference by Blinken and his Indian host External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Wednesday testifies to it.
The US-Indian relationship remains fundamentally strong insofar it enjoys bipartisan support in both countries that it is a consequential relationship. But beneath that threshold, fault lines have appeared.
First and foremost, the Biden administration’s neoconservative ideology obliges it to adopt intrusive policies on issues of democracy, human rights and rule of law, which grates on the Modi government’s sensitivities.
Paradoxically, some of the most pro-American sections of Indian opinion also happen to be the harshest critics of the Modi government today. Their alienation is so deep that they won’t even mind joining hands with the Indian left in berating the Modi government.
Blinken’s move to hold a ‘civil society roundtable’ discussion with a group of Indians conveyed a powerful message to the Modi Government that things may not be as bad as in Belarus or Myanmar, but India is being perceived by the Biden Administration more or less the same way as Recep Erdogan’s Turkey — an ally who is straying toward postmodern authoritarianism. An AFP dispatch from Delhi reported that at the discussion, Blinken “issued a veiled warning… about Indian democracy backsliding.” read more
No amount of wordplay by Blinken could cover up the reality that he had no word of praise for the Modi Government. Nor did Jaishankar appear particularly perturbed by that.
Estimating correctly that the Biden Administration is unlikely to easily abandon the goals it has been pursuing, Jaishankar was in no mood to apologise, either.
And at one point, he interjected at the press conference to defiantly point out that “the quest for a more perfect union applies as much to the Indian democracy as it does to the American one.” Jaishankar asserted that “it is the moral obligation of all polities to right wrongs when they have been done, including historically. And many of the decisions and policies you’ve seen in the last few years fall in that category.”
He held the ground that “freedoms are important, we value them, but never equate freedom with non-governance or lack of governance or poor governance. They are two completely different things.” It is difficult to recall an Indian minister in modern times pushing back at the US publicly. read more
The press conference also highlighted the deep disillusionment in Delhi over the irresponsible manner in which the US cut loose and exited Afghanistan, leaving that country in shambles and jeopardising regional security — and stability and billions of dollars worth Indian investment in that country, both in financial support and technical assistance and in engineering projects.
Jaishankar noted bitterly that outcomes are being decided in the battlefield in Afghanistan and alluded to continuing Pakistani interference. He didn’t take Blinken’s easy route to put the blame on the Taliban and instead underscored the “broad consensus, deep consensus” among most of the neighbours of Afghanistan that there should be a political settlement. to create another QUAD (Quadrilateral Diplomatic Platform) comprising the US, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan with a view to remaining embedded in the region even after the humiliating defeat in the 20year war would have come as a nasty surprise to Delhi and prompted it to slam the door shut on any form of bandwagoning with America in the Hindu Kush. The dryness in Jaishankar’s tone had a tinge of contempt.
As regards the all-important Covid-19 vaccines, Blinken didn’t say a word about TRIPS waiver, which was an Indian initiative. Quite obviously, Biden who initially supported the initiative since quietly backtracked under pressure from the powerful Pharma companies and their political lobby and is now accepting their argument that the real solution lies in quickly relieving the global COVID-19 vaccine imbalance by pushing a package of interventions, including limiting export
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restrictions, improving vaccine manufacturing in the global south, and issuing voluntary licenses that would allow specific manufacturers to avoid intellectual property restrictions, but without instituting a universal waiver.
So, at the end of the day, Blinken made a grand announcement that US will supply 25 million doses of vaccine to India! From past experience, India is unsure whether even this paltry donation isn’t another empty promise. Jaishankar didn’t react.
Blinken also avoided making any assurances to give India full access to the raw materials for vaccine production. Did Blinken make any trade concessions to ease India’s post-pandemic economy recovery? Will the US help us to avoid another apocalyptic scenario when the 3rd Wave arrives? Did he promise to invest in India to create jobs? Did he have any advice how Indian Army can resume patrolling on Depsang Plains? No, none of that.
Blinken’s real mission was without doubt to stop India from drifting away from the US-led anti-China coalition. The Biden Administration is worried that without India, the QUAD would unravel and the containment strategy against China wouldn’t gain traction in Asia.
Thus, in the typical American way to hustle difficult partners, Blinken began with a bang by meeting Tibetan representatives — the first of its kind in India or in a third country by US officials — which was a calculated move to create misleading optics that would queer the pitch of India-China tensions.
This is no way to treat a hospitable friend — undercutting his standing while enjoying his hospitality at his home. It only shows how testy the Blinken administration is nowadays when it comes to China.
But Blinken underestimated the fault lines in the US-Indian relationship and the widening chasm between the two countries over the range of issues concerning Afghanistan, vaccine distribution and human rights issues. This was a rare India-US high-level exchange where there was hardly any rhetoric directed against China.
Having said that, the strong likelihood is that India may take part in the face-toface meet to discuss QUAD, which President Biden plans to convene. That will be a defining moment, as the US intention is to create a regional mechanism to strategically contain and exert pressure on China — simply put, to institutionalise the QUAD, where all four countries have their own reasons to address the perceived pressures and challenges posed by China’s rise.
The Quad’s record so far is dismal — be it on Covid vaccines, supply chains on rare earths or as counter to China’s Belt and Road. Yet, the way forward in US-China relations is expected to be rocky and the Biden Administration hopes to suppress China.
Indeed, the strategic contradictions are self-evident insofar as all the QUAD countries, including the US, also have need for bilateral economic cooperation and even regional cooperation with China. When the top dog in the QUAD slyly keeps the door open for cooperation, the choice for the three subalterns couldn’t be clearer.
India needs to continue to walk the fine line both to avoid collateral damage from the Biden administration’s zigzagging policies on China as well as to keep its own autonomy to negotiate with China bilaterally. Biden is a highly experienced politician and if he gets to realise the futility of trying to suppress China, a pattern of co-existence may well emerge. Source- newsclick.in, 30 Jul 2021
South Asia Times
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By Bollyoz.com/ saT NeWs desK
mELBOURNE, 30 July 2021: One never forgets the famous Bollywood song from ‘Aradhana’ “mere sapno ki rani”… yes, Rajesh Khanna in his jeep, following Sharmila Tagore travelling in the Baby Sivok steam locomotive train, which is also well-known as the Darjeeling toy train!
Well, we have something similar here, in our backyard in Castlemaine Victoria, which is the home of the Victorian Goldfields Railway! Castlemaine is approx. One hour and 30 minutes drive up the Calder Freeway (M79) from Melbourne.
This authentic steam heritage train links the historic gold mining towns of Castlemaine and Maldon in Central Victoria.
There are two different experiences offered: One is the Excursion class ticket, which is great for a family outing, this is great for the kids to experience authentic steam-era carriages and experience living history firsthand.
You can open the windows, spot the kangaroos, listen to the engine huff, and puff up the hills!
The other is the posh First Class, but this is reserved only for adults, and no children are allowed in this carriage. You can choose the Edwardian elegance in the parlour car or art deco sophistication in the Pullman club car which is air-conditioned for your comfort.
This certainly provides you with an experience of the Golden Age of rail travel when the journey was as important as the destination.
The best part is that you can step outside and admire the scenery from the end viewing platform of the parlour car… Of course, what is better than being able to sample some of the wine and beer of the region in this plush carriage! Another thing to note is that Disabled access is available on all regular VGR trains.
If you are of a bit adventurous spirit, then you should try riding on the engine with the train driver! The view and the experience will simply amaze you! On the way to Maldon, there is a brief stop at Muckleford, the only intermediate station on the line… and it provides a nice photo op session for the tourists!
Once you reach Maldon station – you can hang on to see the incredible engine turntable that moves the rail engine back in the direction to Castlemaine.
The Victoria Goldmines Railways (VGRs) courtesy bus is available to take you into the town centre and bring you back in time for the departing train. The two and half hour stop at Maldon provides a chance to explore the historic village, which has some interesting Victorian-era buildings, and eclectic food and dining spaces.
Bollyoz’s Kirti Sehrawat chatted with Andrew Reynolds from VGR:
KirTi seHraWaT (Bollyoz): Hi aNdreW, Would you Be aBle To sHare THe HisTory of vgr?
Andrew Reynolds (VGR): Certainly the railroad was built in 1884, 127 years ago and it was one of the many branch lines through Victoria to open up the countryside for farming, but in particular Maldon are very gold mining a very rich gold mining area there were some incredibly valuable mines in Maldon and also Castlemaine so to join from the mainline at Castlemaine which is in central Victoria to Maldon was very important to bring in mining machinery and take out the gold, and the railway flourished for doing that for a while but of course as always the gold runs out and so Maldon reverted back to being a very sleepy country. By the time 1978 came along the railway was closed it was uneconomic it just wasn’t worth running trains and at that time the preservation society took over which was us, and I was one of the very early members, and we within 10 years started running trains and finally in 2004 we reopened the railway into Castlemaine the full 16 kilometres from Maldon to Castlemaine.
KirTi seHraWaT (Bollyoz): so WHaT are THe maiN aTTracTioNs Here THaT visiTors caN exPerieNce?
Andrew Reynolds (VGR): In this railway we link two important places – Castlemaine and Maldon. Castlemaine is an incredibly rich gold mining area and a very wealthy town it’s now become very popular; it’s referred to as north Northcote. A lot of people commute from Castlemaine to Melbourne, it’s about an hour and 20 minutes on the train. Maldon itself is a very sleepy town, but it’s vibrant, there’s so much happening here! In 1966 the national trust classified Maldon as the first notable town in Australia because of its old 1880s, 1890s architecture and the fact that the town was basically original, so now it’s become very much a tourist town. But interestingly it keeps that old flavour of what it was back in the days.
Our trains leave from Castlemaine and take people to Maldon, they have a couple of hours in Maldon – two and a half hours to have lunch, walk around town, explore the town. The old gold mines are very close to town. There are some wonderful shops in town, one of the most famous is the lolly shop which everybody knows about. There’s a couple of really good pubs, lots of cafes, beautiful gardens and two museums. There’s plenty to do in town for that two and a half hours, and then we take people back.
KirTi seHraWaT (Bollyoz): WHaT KiNd of TraiN eNgiNes you do Have Here?
Andrew Reynolds (VGR): We’ve got several steam engines, and we’ve got several diesel locomotives. Our steam engines are mostly very modern, it was built in 1953 by a company called Vulcan in Lancashire in England. Vulcan were also notable for building thousands of steam engines for India for the Indian railways. Our engine is the youngest steam engine still surviving in Victoria and we use it on most of our trains, we also have one other steam engine that is undergoing a major rebuild down in Melbourne, and that should be back here soon. We have access to another couple of steam engines from time to time. We also have several diesel locomotives and they’re quite historic in their own right. the diesel locomotives we’ve got was built in 1960 and it’s a very typical early diesels used on the railways.
KirTi seHraWaT (Bollyoz): Tell us aBouT THe TraiN rouTe from casTlemaiNe To maldoN?
Andrew Reynolds (VGR): We share the platform at Castlemaine with V-line, so the V-line trains come up from Melbourne takes about an hour and 20 minutes and all you’ve got to do is step off the V-line train and step onto our train. We have a branch line from Castlemaine, the mainline trains continue to Bendigo. We’ve got ample car parking at Castlemaine station, and so when you board our train you go back in time! There’s no doubt about it, you come off a train that does 100 miles an hour, in my language 160 kilometres an hour, and you step onto our steam train which does maybe 40 kilometres an hour if you’re lucky, so it’s a step back in time. From Castlemaine we go through some quite steep hills, in the early days it was a very difficult line to build and there’s lots of sharp curves, lots of steep hills, and it runs for 16 kilometres, probably about half of it is through bushland that has been mined. We go through the bushland, which is pretty typical of Australian bush, but then down in the valley at Muckleford, we go through beautiful farmlands. The steam trains did serve a purpose for the rural community, taking in raw materials, and taking out produce. The trainline is incredibly attractive and the engines works hard, so you can hear the steam engine huffing and puffing.
KirTi seHraWaT (Bollyoz): so, WHaT Would you recommeNd for visiTors from THe suBcoNTiNeNT?
Andrew Reynolds (VGR): It’s a great place for visitors to come here, it’s so close to Melbourne, and an absolute taste of rural Australia it is such a quintessential Australian experience to come here. You’ve got gold… Australia was founded on gold; this town owes its prosperity in everything to gold. So, you’ve got the gold mining relics all around town there are old mines, there’s a big chimney just out of the station, which was part of a processing plant. You’ve got the gold history which I think people from the subcontinent will enjoy, having a fascination for gold, which I totally understand. One can also get a taste of the Australian way of life of last century; the late 1800s the early 1900s, there’s so much to do, there are wonderful shops like the lolly shop, unique pubs, fabulous cafes, gardens that you can go and sit in.
KirTi seHraWaT (Bollyoz): do you also orgaNize sPecial TraiNs, THaT caN PeoPle Hire for a sPecific occasioN?
Andrew Reynolds (VGR): Absolutely that’s one of our specialties, we do hire the train for occasions we do run a few specialty trains of our own. We run one that’s Ales on Rails which is where we do craft beer tasting from central Victorian breweries as we’re traveling along and traveling back, and we have lunch in Maldon. We have a Murder on the Orient Express movie train, where we show the movie, and the theme of the train is based around that. We do other special trains for birthdays anniversaries and things, and one of the most memorable we did was only just before COVID, there’s a very big engineering works up in Bendigo and a lot of their engineers are from the subcontinent and particularly from India. They decided to have their outing on our train, they charted the train one evening and they made it a Bollywood theme, they did the decorations inside the club carriages, and we had a couple of our excursion cars and we played Bollywood music throughout our sound system, and everybody had such a fabulous time. It was so lively, I loved it, I really enjoyed doing it. Then when we got here to Maldon, we had some local Indian caterers had set up food on the platform. It was a wonderful experience, and we look forward to hosting such events on our special steam trains.
