US thinks Vajpayee was better than Manmohan: WikiLeaks
21 Mar 2011
WikiLeaks continues to demonstrate that recession-hit America's interest in India is more economic than social. The US undoubtedly needs India – but India is not cooperating, seems to be the message from the latest leaked cables.
The US feels it is not getting a full bang for its buck in its ''strategic partnership'' with India, seems to be the message in Julius Assange's latest salvo let loose today.
The newest cables relate to David Mulford, US ambassador to India. They show American officials complaining that the UPA government is ''frustratingly cautious'' in its approach to India-US relations.
A cable dated 14 January 2008 (137238; secret) from Mulford said, ''We note that under the NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee it was easier to meet Indian officials and get business done, even in the paranoid ministry of home affairs - but the Congress government has reverted to type, indulging in Brezhnev-era controls on its people.
''Indira Gandhi would have approved (of this),'' Mulford adds. ''The Nehru dynasty needs to become more like the Tata dynasty.''
There were references to ''irritants'' that needed to be ''fixed''; and to ''difficulties'' in getting full cooperation from India on issues such as intelligence-sharing.
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