Jimmy Carter’s connection to India was personal and political

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's complex relationship with India and the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal during his 1978 visit.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter had an intense relationship with India, both at a personal level and over the original “Indo-U.S. nuclear deal” for the Tarapur Atomic Power Station that even threatened to derail his mega visit to India in 1978. In a statement on Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded Mr. Carter’s efforts for “global peace and harmony” and said that his “contributions to fostering strong India-U.S. ties leave a lasting legacy”.

Mr. Carter’s two-day visit to India (January 1-3, 1978) was billed a major moment in bilateral ties. Mr. Carter and First Lady Rosalynn Carter had embarked on a five-nation tour to Poland, Iran, India, France and Belgium, arriving in New Delhi from Tehran where the Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi had thrown a New Year’s eve banquet for them.

The visit was also significant, as unlike his predecessors, Mr. Carter hadn’t combined it with a visit to Pakistan. The Carters were received not only by Prime Minister Morarji Desai and the members of the Cabinet, but by President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy himself, a rare gesture. Welcoming him at the airport, Mr. Reddy called Mr. Carter a “great humanist”, and referred to Mr. Carter’s mother Lillian Carter’s “selfless service” in Maharashtra as a member of the U.S. Peace Corps in the 1960s.

Mr. Carter, clearly delighted by the reference, the reception and the crowds who lined the streets, attended a public rally with Mr. Desai at the Ramlila Maidan. He said the connection with India was a deeply personal one because of his mother’s love for “this nation and its people”. In Parliament, he received a standing ovation as he drew parallels between the fight for democracy in India against the Emergency that had ended two years before, and the U.S. protests against the Watergate Scandal that had ousted his predecessor Richard Nixon.

However, the bonhomie during the visit was dimmed somewhat by U.S. expectations of the Indian government at the time. Ahead of his arrival, Mr. Carter had said in an interview, “We go to India, the biggest democracy in the world, one that in recent years has turned perhaps excessively toward the Soviet Union but under the leadership of Prime Minister Desai is moving back towards the U.S. and assuming a good role of, I would say, neutrality.” His statement had left some feathers ruffled.

It was also clear that during talks with Mr. Desai, Mr. Carter intended to nudge India towards the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), given the U.S. anger over India’s nuclear tests in 1974, and to use India’s requirement for nuclear fuel at the Tarapur Atomic Power Station as leverage. Morarji Desai, an avowed Gandhian who was against the atomic bomb, nonetheless refused to budge on nuclear sovereignty issues. In a “hot mic” moment during a recess in talks between the two leaders, Mr. Carter inadvertently spoke to U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus Vance near television microphones that broadcast him speaking of disagreements during the negotiations, and referring to Mr. Desai as “pretty adamant” on the nuclear issue, The Hindu reported at the time.

“While the U.S. Presidential outreach was well-meant, it was clear that on the nuclear issue there remained a substantial gap between what the U.S. wanted India to do on non-proliferation, and the safeguards India was willing to submit to,” said former Ambassador to Russia and disarmament expert at the Ministry of External Affairs Venkatesh Verma, explaining that the underlying question was about “India’s place in the larger nuclear order of which the U.S. was the primary custodian”.