Indian elite have been ecstatic about Barack Obama’s support for India as a permanent member of an expanded UN Security Council. It is indeed a significant endorsement of India’s growing economic power and global aspirations. But what does it mean in real terms, beyond the rhetoric of a leader trying to please his audience by saying what they most wanted to hear? As the WikiLeaks documents underline, the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, after all sought intelligence from the US diplomats at the UN on the deliberations regarding Security Council expansion among the “self-appointed frontrunners” for permanent membership including India.