VZCZCXRO4261
RR RUEHBI RUEHCI
DE RUEHCG #0054/01 0221109
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 221109Z JAN 07
FM AMCONSUL CHENNAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0580
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 2210
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 4947
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL CALCUTTA 0684

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 CHENNAI 000054 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OVIP PREL PGOV ECON SCUL IN
SUBJECT: CODEL SPECTER IN SOUTH INDIA: COMMUNISTS, COMPUTERS AND 
CULTURE 
 
¶1. (U) Summary: During a December 17-22 visit to the south Indian 
states of Kerala and Karnataka, Senator Arlen Specter 
(R-Pennsylvania) viewed first-hand India's high-tech and business 
boom, met with judicial officials and journalists, and experienced 
traditional culture and politics, the latter in a lively meeting 
with Kerala's communist Chief Minister.  Meeting topics included the 
war in Iraq, the U.S.-India civil nuclear accord, the impact of 
out-sourcing on U.S. jobs, and judicial activism and reform.  The 
south India destinations for Senator Specter and his small 
delegation were Kochi and Thiruvananathapuram, the commercial and 
political capitals of Kerala, and Bangalore, the main city of 
neighboring Karnataka.  End summary. 
 
Chief Minister Revisits the Cold War 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) On December 21 in Thiruvananthapuram (which is also still 
known by its former name, Trivandrum), the capital of Kerala, 
Senator Specter, joined by Chennai Principal Officer Hopper, met 
with Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan (Communist Party of 
India-Marxist), the state's highest elected official.  Senator 
Specter asked if the Chief Minister carries out Marxist doctrine in 
governing Kerala.  Achuthanandan said that in Kerala, like in West 
Bengal and Tripura, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) 
rules in coalition with other leftist, like-minded, but not 
necessarily Marxist parties.  He nevertheless is guided by the CPI-M 
election manifesto prepared for the early 2006 state election, and 
he characterized his government's policies as "left democratic." 
Achuthanandan said that this means abolishing a "feudal system" of 
land ownership in which some wealthy people owned 50,000 acres of 
land they did not use while poor farmers had to make do with a tenth 
of one acre.  He said his government's land reform program operates 
under the principles of "land to the tiller" and debt forgiveness 
for poor farmers.  Those willing to work on government-owned land 
pay nominal rent for 12 years and then receive full ownership. 
Achuthanandan said that one million farmers have now received land 
under this program and hundreds of thousands have been freed from 
bonded labor.  He added that education and health care were also 
priorities for his government.  He claimed that every child has 
access to 12 years of free education and that 50 percent of the 
seats in universities are reserved for students from socially and 
economically disadvantaged segments of society.  He said health care 
is universal and free and is administered at the village level. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Senator Specter also asked about the application of Marxist 
theory in the wider world where so many communist regimes have been 
discredited and have fallen.  Achuthanandan responded that "the 
Soviet Union had been a huge success for 75 years but collapsed in 
the end because of wrong practices and the actions of the CIA."  He 
said that even Russian President Putin, though not a communist, "is 
engaged in a struggle against the United States."  Achuthanandan 
claimed that "despite U.S. efforts to encourage 
counter-revolutionaries" in China during the Tiananmen Square 
protests of 1989 and "despite 180 attempts by the CIA to kill Castro 
in Cuba," communism is flourishing in those countries as well as in 
North Korea and Vietnam. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Achuthanandan then asked a number of rhetorical questions: 
"How many democratically elected leaders have been assassinated by 
the U.S. government?"  "How can the United States justify attacking 
Iraq?"  "Why does the U.S. not free Saddam Hussein after a farcical 
trial?"  Achuthanandan also claimed, "Saddam in his entire life used 
a fraction of the weapons of mass destruction that the U.S. used in 
Vietnam."  Senator Specter pointed out that Saddam had used WMD 
against Iranians and Iraqis alike, that U.S. intelligence, although 
later proved wrong, pointed to continuing stockpiles of WMD, and 
that Saddam had been proved in Iraqi courts to have tortured and 
murdered his own people and must now face Iraqi justice.  Senator 
Specter added that a precipitous withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq 
would result in even more killing.  The sometimes contentious 
discussion between the Senator and Chief Minister ended with the 
Chief Minister's backhanded comment:  "We don't like Bush, but we 
are with the American people." 
 
Technology and Culture in Thiruvananthapuram 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Senator Specter visited U.S. Technologies, a California-based 
information technology corporation with a large software development 
and customer support facility in Thiruvananthapuram's "Techno-Park." 
  U.S. Technologies made a presentation highlighting the core values 
and features of the company, including its information technology 
consulting and development services to industry verticals such as 
healthcare, retail financial services, and manufacturing utilities 
and logistics.  When the U.S. Technologies briefer proudly pointed 
out that Independence Healthcare in Philadelphia is one of the many 
U.S. companies supported from the Kerala office, Senator Specter 
asked about the number and location of employees who were  doing 
 
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that work before U.S. Technologies was engaged. 
 
¶6. (U) The head of the Travancore royal family, who were the 
pre-Indian independence rulers of the area, Marthanda Varma 
Maharaja, along with his sister Lakshmi Bai and their immediate 
family members, received Senator Specter at the Kowdiar Palace and 
discussed the history and culture of Kerala.  The erudition of the 
Kerala royal family was in rich display, as much as the religious 
and cultural heritage of the state, deeply impressing Senator 
Specter and the accompanying visitors.  Senator Specter also visited 
the art gallery housing many of the painting of Raja Ravi Varma, a 
member of the royal family who was one of India's leading artists in 
oils. 
 
Kochi: Press, Judges and Business People 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) Earlier, in Kochi (which is also still known by its former 
name, Cochin), the economic and business hub of Kerala, Senator 
Specter met with the editorial board of the Malayala Manorama, the 
state's leading daily newspaper, including director and managing 
editor Philip Mathew.  The questions put to Senator Specter focused 
on U.S.-Indian relations and India's standing in the world.  Senator 
Specter said that because of India's position as the world's largest 
democracy and as a growing economic power, the country should be 
considered for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.  He said 
that the U.S. should forge closer trade relations with India, and he 
saw cooperation in the area of nuclear energy as a boon to both 
nations.  Senator Specter said that the U.S. government has not 
effectively communicated its policies to the world's Muslims, many 
of whom wrongly believe that the U.S. is against Islam. 
 
¶8. (U) Another highlight of Senator Specter's Kochi visit was a 
meeting with Chief Justice V.K. Bali and four senior judges of the 
Kerala High Court.  The judicial appointment system in India and the 
relations between the Indian judicial and legislative branches of 
government formed a good part of the discussions.  "Do you 
legislate?" Senator Specter asked the judges, touching off 
discussions on the theme of judicial activism for which the Kerala 
High Court is especially reputed.  "We fill the gaps (in the laws 
and the Constitution)," the judges replied, pointing to the powers 
vested in them to issue orders and writs for ensuring the 
fundamental rights of the citizens guaranteed in the Indian 
Constitution. 
 
¶9. (U) Senator Specter had lively discussions with Kochi businessmen 
at two events -- a dinner hosted by the Kerala Indo-American Chamber 
of Commerce and a lunch hosted by the Cochin Chamber of Commerce. 
At both events, Senator Specter acknowledged the growing importance 
of India on the world stage and the fair claim for a greater role 
for India at the United Nations. He conceded that the U.S. 
involvement in Iraq was based on inaccurate intelligence but pointed 
out that now that the U.S. is there, it cannot withdraw 
precipitously, leaving the country in chaos. 
¶10. (U) Senator Specter toured the AD 1568 Mattancherry Synagogue 
guided by Samuel Hallegua, the leader of the small Jewish community 
in Kochi.  He saw with great interest the scrolls of Jewish 
scriptures and the historic copper plates in which the privileges 
granted by the erstwhile Kochi kings to the Kerala Jewish community 
are recorded. The delegation also visited the "backwaters" area of 
Kerala, near Kochi, which is growing as a destination for 
international and domestic tourism, an important industry for 
Kerala's economy. 
 
Bangalore: High-Tech City 
------------------------- 
 
¶11. (U) On December 20 in Bangalore, the capital of the state of 
Karnataka and the center of India's information technology industry, 
a visit to IBM India's facility provided an opportunity for Senator 
Specter to witness some of the company's worldwide operations 
directed from the Global Operations Center.  Senator Specter asked 
IBM India executives about the number of jobs that have been moved 
from the U.S. to India, to which the executives replied that there 
has been no migration of jobs to India. 
 
¶12. (U) A visit to General Electric's John F. Welch Technology 
Center (GE-JWTC) brought Senator Specter up close to some of the 
next generation technologies that the company plans to bring to the 
market.  The qualifications of the scientists employed and the wages 
paid to them were the focus of the Senator's discussions with 
scientists present during his visit. GE-JWTC's next generation 
imaging systems with medical applications caught the Senator's 
interest as it enabled him to virtually enter the human brain. 
 
¶13. (U) During a lunch meeting with Justice Mallimath, chairman of 
India's Judicial Review Committee, Senator Specter asked about the 
current state of the Indian criminal justice system and the measures 
 
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taken to speed up the judicial process, a major aim of the 
Committee.  Justice Mallimath outlined some of the recommendations 
made by his Committee and the government's effort to implement one 
of the key recommendations, a witness protection program. 
 
¶14. (U) For his visit Senator Specter was accompanied by Mrs. Joan 
Specter, staffer Scott Boos, military escorts and Consulate General 
Chennai staff.  This message was not cleared by the delegation. 
HOPPER