If some fairy godmother granted a wish, and the President of the United States switched jobs with the Prime Minister of India, would anybody notice? Both have Twitter followers running into zillions, you can see both are deeply concerned about appearances, both are doing it for their respective countries, neither is particularly comfortable with formal press conferences – although one can learn from the other the art of speaking to the media from near the whirring blades of a helicopter so no one can hear the questions. Or the answers.
Both have lost important elections recently, although one of them thinks it has been a victory; both have to deal with unpatriotic people who suggest they may not be perfect; both have problems with a neighbouring country – one with people from there coming in, and the other with people from here refusing to go there if they don’t like government policies or cricket results. Both have issues with their predecessors, both spend a lot of their time pointing out how they are better than the people who came before. Both think climate change is a joke, and not a particularly funny one, and that scientific temper is what officials ought to lose when confronted with research findings.
Both have extended the concept of Papal Infallibility to their own offices and, in their minds, are preserved from the possibility of error.
There are differences, of course. The Indian doesn’t play golf and the American prefers his cow on a plate. Non-resident citizens are the PM’s greatest fans while in the President’s case they find him the greatest embarrassment. The President likes to flaunt his much younger wife while the PM long ago began to pretend he didn’t have one.
Still, if an Indian sat in the White House, he would be able to fix the local media better than the American. More than a dozen reporters and anchors would be hauled up on sedition charges. And all this nonsense about the special prosecutor would not work because most adults know that the love of the country is the same as love for the government and whoever heads it. The special prosecutor would be gently asked to resign.
If the American worked from South Block, he would convert all the land around it so he could put up towers named after himself.
He has been telling us recently that he knows more about technology, coal, people, business, and most things, so it is likely he will hold all these portfolios in the ministry himself. He would not push for demonetisation till he learnt to spell the word.
In fact, it might do all world leaders good to stand in someone else’s shoes and rule. Nothing promotes mutual understanding and co-operation better than seeing an issue from another person’s perspective.
The idea of POTUS (President of the United States) and Lotus changing places is not unattractive. One could improve his golf, and the other could complete his autobiography, From Vadnagar to the White House.
Suresh Menon is Contributing Editor, The Hindu