Bush Swagatam

No hush hush, Bush is here. Some are protesting, some don't care and some like me are watching the communist party's reaction and having fun laughing at their hypocrisy. Most Indian jouranlists, columnists compare and contrast Bush's visit with Clinton's. But finally, found this piece by TPSreenivasan (courtest one of my friends) in Asian Wall Street Journal. It makes sense to me. Excerpts....


One capital in the world where you are sure to be welcomed with garlands is
New Delhi. Your predecessors, former U.S. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill
Clinton were extremely well-received here, even though they never offered
nearly as much promise for India-U.S. relations. Our parliamentarians
jostled each other to shake hands with Mr. Clinton, even after he chastised
us for our nuclear tests on the floor of our own Parliament in 2000.

As a democracy that has survived unscathed for nearly 60 years, we have a
romantic ideal of the American Democratic Party. But we also know that it is
the Republican presidents who have discovered our potential and acted
accordingly. Since former U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower gave us the Atoms
for Peace initiative, where a number of Indian scientists were invited to
the U.S. for training in peaceful uses of nuclear energy, the only U.S.
president who has recognized our crying need for nuclear energy and shown
readiness to end our nuclear isolation is you, George W. Bush.