Obama with wife Michelle in Chicago on Saturday. (AP)

Denver, Aug. 24: America’s Democrats who are gathering here to formally nominate Barack Obama as their presidential candidate for 2008 will vote on Tuesday to approve a document that will mandate him to go beyond cosmetic “bilateral agreements, occasional summits and ad hoc diplomatic arrangements” in engaging India if he is elected President.

“We need an open and inclusive infrastructure with the countries in Asia that can promote stability, prosperity and human rights and help confront transnational threats,” says the Democratic Party’s “platform” for the November election, on the basis of which Obama will ask for votes from the US electorate.

The platform seeks to bring the US, India, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines in a closely-knit relationship “in order to create a stable and prosperous Asia”.

The platform will be voted on at the Democratic national convention here on Tuesday as the third most important item on the convention agenda.

It is clear from the paragraphs on India in the document that there is now a consensus in America that “as two of the world’s great multi-ethnic democracies, the US and India are natural strategic allies and we must work together to advance our common interests and to combat the common threats of the 21st century”.

US Vice-President Dick Cheney, the bete noire of Democrats, is credited with creating the idea of an arc of Asian democracies, including India, as a counterweight against China and to fight radical Islam.

There is an element of irony in the Democratic Party adopting that idea in principle in what is the equivalent in the US of a party’s election manifesto in India. But it is a signal that most Americans now see India as a global strategic partner irrespective of who is in the White House.

The platform is not squeamish about acknowledging continuity in US policy towards India under Bill Clinton’s presidency, followed by George W. Bush, to be pursued with equal vigour by Obama if he is elected President. “With India, we will build on the close partnership developed over the past decade.”

It goes on to assure the world that an Obama presidency is “committed to US engagement in Asia. This begins with maintaining strong relationships with allies like Japan, Australia, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines and deepening our ties to vital democratic partners, like India”.

A remarkable feature of Obama’s platform is its seeming acceptance of new and emerging power structures such as the BRIC — Brazil, Russia, India and China.

In the past, the US has been suspicious and inimical to any group that did not include Washington, such as the Non-Aligned Movement and the Group of 77 developing countries.

In a refreshing change, the platform to be adopted on Tuesday says Democrats led by Obama “will pursue effective collaboration on pressing global issues among all the major powers — including such newly emerging ones as China, India, Russia, Brazil, Nigeria and South Africa”.

Stopping just short of endorsing India’s inclusion in the Group of Eight industrial nations and New Delhi’s demand for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, the platform says: “We believe it is in the US interest that all of these emerging powers and others assume a greater stake in promoting international peace and respect for human rights, including through their more constructive participation in key global institutions.”