Learning to live with backlash

NEW DELHI: Democracy is the same everywhere. Opinions are in abundance; populist talk (not action) is rampant; and patriotism is the last refuge of politicians. If the ruling NDA coalition, wants to ride on the ‘feel good factor’ in India in the forthcoming elections, it is not surprising that democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry has picked on the issue of offshoring, trying to leverage the ‘feel bad factor’ –the fear of many middle class Americans, that they will lose their jobs to third world countries like India. Kerry is trying to project himself as the ultimate savior of American jobs.



The emotion of common people is same everywhere. Good politics is all about successfully appealing to the emotion. Facts and figures have little, if at all any role in politics.

Not long ago, the US of A was the favourite bad boy of all political leaders in all developing countries–socialist or otherwise. India was no exception. It was so easy to blame America for all the problems that we faced–drop in moral standards to crunch in foreign exchange. And it always worked, maybe in varying levels, when measured from the point of view of influencing voters. In their heart of hearts, everyone realized the dependence on America. Many of the staunchest critics of "cultural imperialism" sent their children to study in America! Yet, bashing America was good politics.

Then, America taught ("brainwashed") us to embrace globalization. And we did it with open arms. For some time, it seemed we are all really 'bhai bhai'. Indians were suddenly "contributing" very positively to the technology and finance industries there. And except for a few members of the CPI and CPI (M), everyone had accepted the change at home.

Everything seemed to work fine, till…India became a little too successful a little too soon, albeit in a few areas. IT was India’s forte and developed countries, especially the US, started depending on Indian IT skills. For some time, everyone was growing and no one cared if the other person did well too. Once the tech bubble burst and jobs vanished, the same Indians who had "helped change" the technology industry became villains who took away the jobs of millions of Americans. With the BPO wave, the numbers-- and the resentment-- just reached higher magnitudes. That has now culminated in a bill being passed last week in the US senate preventing government jobs being offshored.

Though the amount of government contract is insignificant from India’s point of view, this is being seen as part of a major backlash against Indians and the issue is just getting bigger and bigger, with John Kerry’s decision to project it as a poll issue.



However, one thing we forget is that this is the first true acknowledgement of the success of the offshoring model and India. Success comes with some hazards and we should learn to handle them, just as America did, when all of us were protesting its "cultural imperialism" etc.

In other words, we have come a full circle. Now, we are fast riding to power in the emerging global service economy. And we have to behave like a party in power. When you are in the opposition, the more aggressive you are, the better it is. Once in power, you have to be responsible. You cannot fight word for word. The new reality is that, India is in power. It cannot resort to the same tactics that it used ten years back. It cannot take to the streets all the time.



That is a fundamental change. All our strategies to counter the "backlash" should be based on this truth.

Everyone from the Prime Minister to the industry spokespersons, have issued strong statements. While their concern is appreciated, one does not think that we could go too far by taking a fully confrontational approach. Yes, we should raise this issue in trade discussions. Yes, we should do active lobbying in the corridors of power. Yes, we should tackle this with a mix of diplomacy and negotiations.

But more than all this, we should focus our energy on trying to change the perception about India. We should tell them what the reality is and why at the end the same people would benefit. We should do positive image building. We should create a real ‘feel good’ factor about India. After all, these are the same people who are the consumers of the companies outsourcing to us. We will have to serve them in some form or other tomorrow. We cannot fight with them.



Neither, can we fight with a person who is being projected as the next president of America. We have many more issues to tackle apart from offshoring of services.

Since the issue has gone beyond the domain of business and economy and entered the domain of politics, we cannot hope to do much by just presenting facts and figures. By telling that the number of jobs that have been lost or are projected to be lost to offshoring is not even a fraction of jobs that could be created. Or telling them that the value created by one dollar of outsourcing is so much and so on.

It has to be a diplomatic mission. We have to win back the goodwill of the people whom we want to serve. It is tough, but not impossible. American people are civilized and educated. They will understand. We have to make them understand. Non-violence for Gandhi was not just a belief; it was an effective strategy. It is more relevant today to pursue, as we are in power. Here is our chance to preach (and practice) some Indian values, just as Americans have preached (and practiced) theirs for years.

The author is Associate Editor (bpOrbit), Voice & Data