Dean to race Bush to India

Democratic Party Chairman Dr Howard Dean, who was the opening headliner at the 23rd annual convention of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin – arguably the largest and most influential international medical group in the US – has challenged President George W Bush to see who visits India first.

In a brief interaction with reporters after delivering his keynote speech to AAPI members gathered at the Hilton Houston Americas Hotel, Dean, who was asked if the President should be visiting India soon since he had no done so in his first term, replied: 'I am going to India soon, (and) let's see who gets there first.'

The former Governor of Vermont and erstwhile presidential candidate, described the relationship with India as 'extraordinarily important,' particularly as 'India has really changed.'

'What is going on in India in so many ways has changed the American relationship more than the Americans have done,' he argued, and while acknowledging that 'President Clinton gets an enormous amount of credit for going (to India in March 2000, which many say led to the transformation of US-India relations), the changes in India under the new Congress Party have been extraordinary--under Prime Minister (Manmohan) Singh, it's just been extraordinary.'

Elaborating, Dean noted, 'The opening up of the economy, the changing of work rules,' and while conceding that there are difficult issues vis-a-vis trade and the outsourcing controversy, said, 'but the truth is, in India, you are allowed to join free trade unions that are independent of the employer--that's something that doesn't happen,' in many other countries. 'So we are close to fair trade with India than we are for example, to fair trade with China or some of the other countries and that's contributed to the increasing closeness of the relationship between the United States and India.'

He said the way to address the outsourcing controversy and alleviate the continuing concern over of job losses in the United States, which was an issue many politicians in the US are using for political expediency was that 'we got to have fair trade.'

'The one thing I have said about trade – for two or three years – even when I was running, is that we got to have fair trade, which means even-handed laws from country to country and these particularly mean, protecting workers rights, protecting environment rights, in every country. World trade ought to be not just good for multinationals—it needs to be good for people who work.'

'And again,' Dean reiterated, 'because in India, you can join a trade union independent of the government, you've (India) advanced on that score more so than for example, other countries where that's not permitted, and that makes a big difference.'

Dean said his rationale for being at an Indian physicians conference was because 'we have very strong support from the Indian American community,' and added, 'as much as I plan to go to Israel in the near future, our support from Indian Americans is so strong that I owe that to them. In some sense, it's symbolic, but I think what it symbolizes is the willingness of the Democratic Party to reach out to lots of different groups who make up the Democratic Party and respect their traditions, instead of just asking them to respect ours.'

'I don't want this community or any other communities simply to be donors. I want to establish a working relationship so that everybody is very comfortable about the grounds that we walk on together,' he said.

Earlier, Dean in his speech focused on health issues, and to much laughter remarked at the outset, 'This is not going to be a partisan address and I realize that's going to disappoint all the press people here.'