Need, Help

Even for a country whose prime minister had not too long ago publicly acknowledged to the American president how much Indians loved the United States, the ‘humiliation’ of one of  its diplomats—a woman and an officer of the elite Indian Foreign Service—at the hands of US authorities in New York earlier this month was just too much to take. National outrage boiled over, as images of the sli­ghtly built Devyani Khobragade, deputy consul-general at the Indian consulate in New York and a 39-year-old mother of two, and news of her being arrested, handcuffed in public, strip-searched—and worse—cav­ity-searched too like a common criminal, appeared on the front pages of national dailies, provoking angry debates in the electro­nic media. In a metaphorical leap, her humiliation became India’s humiliation, and neither politicians, across the divide, nor the foreign policy establishment are in any mood to forgive.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, India responded with a slew of reciprocal gestures, some of them perhaps petulant, like the removal of barricades outside the gates of the US embassy in Chanakyapuri, others more deep-going withdrawals of privileges. The controversy has also opened up the space for the Indian side to take a serious relook at its ‘unequal’ relationship vis-a-vis the US, where the western superpower does not extend Indian diplomats the freedom and access their envoys enjoy in our country.

Dhruv Jaishankar, a US-based researcher and also son of the Indian ambassador in Washington, S. Jaishankar, tweeted: “My wife is American. I have stopped talking to her because of my outrage over her government’s mistreatment of Devyani Khobragade.” Devyani’s own father Uttam Khobragade, meanwhile, has threatened to launch a fast if the US authorities did not drop the ‘fabricated’ case against his daughter.

The enraged Protest outside US embassy. (Photograph by Sanjay Rawat)

In all this outrage, however, there is little mention of Sang­eeta Richard, the domestic help. If at all she enters the popular narrative, it’s as the villain of the piece. She and her husband, Phillip, as well as her children, have been painted as part of a larger conspiracy to embarrass the diplomat and India as a whole. The Richards, it seems, willingly became party in the attempts by a certain section of the American establishment, ngos and even some evangelical Christian groups trying to portray this as a fight against “modern-day slavery” and “human trafficking”. The family also stands to gain a possible US citizenship, the New Delhi establishment maintains.

Foreign minister Salman Khurshid reacts sharply when asked why India is limiting itself to arguing only Devyani’s case and not highlighting Sangeeta’s side of the story. “What is her story? Do you know what her story is? If she came to us, we would surely highlight her story as well,” he says. Khurshid also denies that India has overreacted. “Our reaction is always criticised. Sometimes we are criticised for underreacting, at other times we are accused of overreacting. If someone can tell me what a balanced reaction is and where one draws the line, I will try to follow it,” a sardonic Khur­shid told journalists on December 19.

How then does one view India’s reaction in totality? Does it really mean an end to the 10-year-old upswing in Indo-US ties? What will it mean for Indian companies—especially its IT sector—given that they are among the largest availers of the 65,000 H1B visas the US issues annually?

Devyani’s father Uttam Khobragade. (Photograph by Amit Haralkar)

Part of the Indian reaction, particularly from the political parties, stems from the fact that the country is getting more and more into election mode, due in the first quarter of the approaching year. The Congress, reeling under its recent drubbing in the state elections and pitted against the ‘tough’ BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, is keen to project that its government has a spine, after all, and is not afraid to take on the mighty US, willing even to sacrifice a decade-long relationship, if necessary. And not just the Congress, all political parties, including the Left and the Bahu­jan Samaj Party—whose chief Mayawati wasted no time latching on to project Devyani’s plight as part of the wider injustice to Dalits—took a stand. For the Left, of course, there was no dilemma.

Members of the foreign service and the MEA, on the other hand, are incensed at the way Devyani was denied any diplomatic privilege. They ask how America could invoke the Vienna Convention to cite diplomatic immunity for Raymond Allen Davis, a security firm contractor who killed two Pakistanis in Lahore in January 2011, but overlooked it in Devyani’s case because she was employed with the US consulate in New York, and not with the Indian embassy in Washington.

The barricades outside US embassy being removed

But while Devyani’s humiliation has brought the political parties and the foreign policy establishment together, one issue is being conveniently put on the backburner amidst the rising rhetoric: the alleged false statement the Indian diplomat gave the US authorities to enable her maid, Sangeeta Richard, to work at her home in New York.

The problem has to do with the minimum wage the US law stipulates domestic helps should be paid by their employers—American or non-American. Realising most Indian diplomats and officials posted abr­oad, particularly in the West and developed countries like the US, would need domestic help, the Indian foreign ministry has evolved a system whereby special allowances are built into the salaries of the diplomats. In this scheme of things, the Indian diplomat works out an agreement on a generous salary—much higher than what a domestic help would get in India but way lower than the US minimum wage regulation in terms of cash in hand—while the ministry pays for the medical allowance, insurance and a yearly passage home for the domestic help. But the government has no direct link with the help, who though given an official passport to travel, are not even contract workers of the ministry. The deal is usually worked out between the individual diplomat or official and the domestic help.

Indian officials also argue that though the cash in hand may be less than the stipulated US minimum wage, if one factored in the cost of lodging—usually in posh and expensive parts of the city—along with food and clothing as well as the medical facilities, which allows domestic helps access to the same hospitals as their employers—it adds up to much more than what could be earned going strictly by the (arguably high) minimum wage standard. This, though, still does not excuse what the US government has charged Devyani with—wilfully giving false information.

Preet Bharara, prosecutor in the Devyani case—he had also been part of the Rajat Gupta case. (Photograph by AFP, From Outlook 30 December 2013)

Indian diplomats who have served in New York and other US cities say that, so far, the two governments had a working arrangement on this and what amounts to a nod-and-wink attitude. What led to this cozy arrangement being disturbed?

There may be several reasons. Over the past few years, a number of similar cases involving Indian diplomats and their disgruntled domestic help have come to light, much to New Delhi’s embarrassment. They may have encou­raged others, like Sangeeta Richard, to complain about their working conditions and wage structure. The lure of permanent residency in the US as well as support from activists in the US administration, too has helped.

Which brings us to the million-dollar question: where do the two sides go from here? US secretary of state John Kerry has already called the Ind­ian natio­nal security advisor, Shiv Shankar Menon, to exp­ress regret over the incident while maintaining that the law of the US must be respected by all. Khurshid himself sta­yed away, to show that India was still unhappy with the action. A day later, US under-secretary for political affairs, Wendy Sherman, called Indian foreign secretary Sujatha Singh, reiterating the US’s regret over the incident but stopped short of an apology.

Are we then to conclude that the incident will lead to a rebalancing in Indo-US ties? “There has been a general sense of awe about the US and its clout,” and the Americans rarely reciprocate gestures, says former secretary in the MEA, Rajiv Sikri. Often the Indian government grants Americans much more than is due. “Much of it comes from the fact that it is a friendly country, and much else from our gen­erosity, or at times, also indifference,” adds Sikri. But will this cha­nge now or will some of the privileges that have been withdrawn restored?

India has provided a way out by moving Devyani from the consulate in New York to the Permanent Mission in UN where she can be entitled to full diplomatic immunity and the US will have to drop all charges against her. But that will first need the state department’s nod and for her fresh application for the new assignment to be passed. As of now, there is no indication that Kerry’s regret will extend to ignoring the US laws, the American judicial procedure, allowing for the charges against Devyani to be dropped.

“There is no point in hyping up the rhetoric, it will only lead to more embarrassment for the two governments,” says India’s former consul-general in New York, Neelam Deo.

But when a foreign minister pledges before Indian Parliament that he won’t return to the House until their diplomat’s honour is restored, it creates a situation where either he, or his American counterpart Kerry, have to eat humble pie and resolve the ongoing controversy. Who’ll do so first?

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Charges Against Devyani

• Essentially “visa fraud” and “false statement”. She is accused of evading law and creating false documents and lying to the US government to secure a visa for her domestic help.
• Paying her help Sangeeta Richard nearly a third of the $9.75 per hour she promised in the visa application as per the minimum wage laws in the US
• Creating a second contract that reduced her wage to $3.31 per hour and concealing it from US authorities
• Making Sangeeta work beyond the contractual 40 hrs a week
• Deleting clauses protecting her from “other forms of exploitation and abuse” and those requiring Devyani to comply with US laws
• Attempting to silence and harass Sangeeta’s family by starting a legal process against her in India.

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India’s Reaction

• US consular officers asked to return their identity cards
• US diplomats asked to return their airport passes
• Indian leaders refuse to meet visiting US delegation
• Delhi Police remove concrete barricades outside US embassy
• India seeks the salary and bank details of all Indian staff employed at the US mission
• The government also stops all import clearances for US embassy, especially for liquor.

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How The Controversy Unspooled

The sequence of events beginning Sangeeta’s employment to departure and falling    out with her employer, and finally her complaint against her

• Fall Of 2012 Sangeeta meets Devyani. Works for several days at her house seeking employment in NY.
• Oct 2012 Devyani files visa application for Sangeeta
• Nov 24, 2012: Sangeeta enters US
• Dec 2012-Jan 2013 Sangeeta complains to husband Phillip on the phone about “miserable work conditions”
• Jun 23, 2013 She walks out of her employer’s residence
• Jun 24, 2013 Office of Foreign Missions in NY informed, help sought to trace her
• Jul 2013 Devyani receives call reportedly on Sangeeta’s behalf for negotiation. She complains to Delhi Police. Also complains to US authorities about “aggravated harassment”.
• Jul 8, 2013 Meets Sangeeta at lawyer’s office; she reportedly asks for $10,000 and immigration assistance. India cancels her passport
• Jul 19, 2013 Phillip files petition seeking punishment for Devyani and safe
  repatriation for Sangeeta. The petition is dismissed.
• Sept 20, 2013 Delhi High Court passes interim injunction restraining the Richards from filing for any action against Devyani in any foreign court
• Nov 19, 2013 Arrest warrant against Sangeeta in Delhi
• Dec 10, 2013 Phillip and the children fly to New York
• Dec 12, 2013 Devyani arrested for visa fraud even as “Khobragate” blows up
• Dec 18, 2013 Secretary of State John Kerry calls up NSA Menon to express regret. So does Wendy Sherman, US undersecy for political affairs, to Indian counterpart. India insists all charges be dropped.