VZCZCXRO4580
PP RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHNEH
DE RUEHNE #2860/01 3111308
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061308Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4038
INFO RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHHJJPI/PACOM IDHS HONOLULU HI
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 1240
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 3742
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 2983
RUEHNEH/AMCONSUL HYDERABAD
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 1611
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 5399
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 2075
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 9059
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 2797
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 5458
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 7105
RHOVVKG/COMSEVENTHFLT
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 002860 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NP, AC, PM 
 
STATE FOR INR/MR 
 
STATE FOR SCA/INS, PM/CBM, PM/PRO 
 
STATE FOR SCA/PPD, PA/RRU 
 
STATE FOR AID/APRE-A 
 
USDOC FOR 4530/IEP/ANESA/OSA FOR BILL MURPHY 
 
E.O. 12958:N/A 
TAGS: KMDR KPAO PGOV PREL IN
SUBJECT: SPECIAL MEDIA REPORT - LANDSLIDE VICTORY FOR 
OBAMA IN INDIA 
 
¶1. Begin summary: The India media gave unprecedented 
attention to the U.S. elections this year.  Only India's 
own national elections aftermath could have surpassed 
Senator Barack Obama's election victory in sheer volume 
of coverage.  In reporting and commentary, there was 
widespread admiration for America's political process and 
extraordinary enthusiasm for the President-elect.  This 
5000 year old civilization approvingly acknowledged that 
the world's oldest democracy was finally "coming of age" 
on matters involving race.  Although some expressed 
concerns about the President-elect's views on non- 
proliferation issues, Kashmir and business outsourcing, 
media opinion reflected India's widespread jubilation at 
Senator Obama's victory.  End Summary. 
 
-- OFFICIAL INDIA WELCOMES PRESIDENT-ELECT BARACK OBAMA 
 
¶2. The Indian government, politicians, intellectuals, the 
business community and the people of India welcomed 
Barack Obama's election. President Pratibha Patil said 
the people of India see his election as a historic 
mandate of the people of the US. PM Manmohan Singh hailed 
Obama's "extraordinary" journey. 
 
¶3. Congress Party chairwoman Sonia Gandhi welcomed the 
U.S. result, while the party expressed confidence that 
Indo-US ties would grow stronger under Obama's 
leadership. The Opposition BJP party said "we look 
forward to an illustrious tenure and hope that he will 
fulfill his election promise of a warm relation with 
India." 
 
-- MEDIA SALUTES AMERICA'S DIVERSITY 
 
¶4. The Indian media approvingly viewed Obama's election 
as a watershed event in race relations that enhances 
America's moral authority. "By handing a landslide 
victory to its first ever African-American president, 
America already is a different country," said India's 
newspaper of record, THE TIMES OF INDIA. "America has 
come close to realizing King's dream. Obama's victory 
reflects America's diversity as much as it acknowledges 
his ability to appeal to voters across race, class and 
age," the paper said. 
 
¶5. Effusive in its praise for American society, the mass- 
circulating DAINIK JAGRAN Hindi daily said: "Obama's 
becoming President is incredible, indicative of a sea 
change in the U.S. society.... It is noteworthy that he not 
just represented blacks, but the mainstream of the U.S. 
society." India's politicians should learn from him, the 
paper said. 
 
¶6. ANANDA BAZAR PATRIKA Bengali daily, eastern India's 
leading voice, said: "Only true democratic values can 
place an individual above all societal identity. America 
has set a historic example in cultivating this value." 
The leading LOKMAT Marathi language daily said: "It is a 
sign of a mature, clear and rich American democracy." 
 
¶7. The U.S. election result dominated TV news on all 
 
NEW DELHI 00002860  002 OF 003 
 
 
channels throughout the day, with regular hyperbolic 
comments reflecting awe and admiration for the outcome. 
On India's NDTV 24X7 news channel, the country's most 
respected television anchor Prannoy Roy, said: "America 
has come of age. Obama's election speaks a lot for the 
American society." The channel's celebrity anchor Barkha 
Dutt, reporting live from Chicago, enthused: "America has 
shown it is a hybrid, multi-ethnic country." Rajdeep 
Sardesai, editor of the popular English television 
channel CNN-IBN, said: "Like everything else, this could 
happen only in America. Once again, America shows the 
way!" 
 
-- MEDIA HOPES FOR A LESS CONFRONTATIST AMERICA 
 
¶8. Some commentators saw in Obama's victory a rejection 
of President Bush's policies. This view was best typified 
by THE HINDU, South India's leading left-of-center 
English daily. The paper said: "It is a measure of the 
enormous damage George W. Bush has wrought on the image 
and stature of the United States of America that 
President-elect Barack Obama reserved a small part of his 
victory speech to deliver a message to the rest of the 
world. To all those watching tonight from beyond our 
shores, he said, a new dawn of American leadership was at 
hand." 
 
¶9. Echoing similar sentiments, the pro-BJP PIONEER 
English daily said Obama will have to restore the world's 
faith in America. "Obama's call for drastic change in 
American policy at home and abroad will echo around the 
world, raising hopes that the US will stop playing the 
international bully and engage in genuine 
multilateralism," the paper said. 
 
¶10. "It is weariness with the results of the foreign 
policy of the Bush administration that has rendered Obama 
a hopeful prospect for the world. The Bush era has seen 
the lowering of the prestige and image of the US abroad 
in its bellicose and unilateral pursuit of the war on 
terror," editorialized the leading ECONOMIC TIMES 
business daily. 
 
¶11. Obama's win signifies a negative vote against the 
policies of Republicans, said EENADU Telugu daily. In a 
harsher vein, Urdu daily HINDUSTAN EXPRESS sai: "The 
victory of Obama is in fact a shameless defeat for 
arrogant America, symbolized by people like George W. 
Bush and John McCain." This was a common view in the pro- 
Islamic Urdu press. 
 
-- WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR INDIA? 
 
¶12. After the jubilation, the Indian media moved directly 
to the point.  THE HINDU reported that Democratic re- 
conquest of the White House has filled India's strategic 
establishment with a certain sense of foreboding. Some 
fear the "re-hyphenation" of India and Pakistan in 
American foreign policy and renewed activism on the 
question of Kashmir. Others worry about protectionism and 
curbs on outsourcing. The third set of concerns revolves 
 
NEW DELHI 00002860  003 OF 003 
 
 
around arms control issues, the paper said. 
 
¶13. India should react cautiously on Obama's approach 
toward Kashmir, warned South India's leading Kannada 
newspaper PRAJAVANI. The EENADU Telegu daily said: "Obama 
has already hinted about a possible peacemaker role for 
the U.S. in Kashmir. India should be ever-vigilant while 
establishing relations with this new leader of the United 
States." 
 
-- "NO MEDIATION ON KASHMIR" 
 
¶14. Appearing on NDTV, India's former foreign secretary 
and the PM's special envoy Shyam Saran expressed 
admiration for Senator Obama and reflected on India's 
principled discussions with him regarding the bilateral 
relationship and the recently-concluded civil nuclear 
agreement.  Regarding anxieties that a Democrat might 
seek to move aggressively to resolve regional issues, he 
said: "We need to convey to the U.S. Administration that 
it is a different India - it is not a state-client 
relationship." On the Kashmir issue, Saran noted: "We 
should politely convey we do not need a mediator. Obama 
has been very forthright on Pakistan" 
 
-- IN DEFENSE OF OUTSOURCING 
 
¶15. Appearing on the same show, top industrialist Anand 
Mahindra brushed aside fears that Senator Obama's job 
protection concerns would adversely affect business 
outsourcing to India, saying, "It was more an election 
statement." Mahindra said, "We should tell the U.S. that 
we help you stay more competitive. Without us you 
wouldn't be so competitive." 
 
¶16. Brushing aside the concern, Indian Finance Minister 
¶P. Chidambaram told the media that Senator Obama's 
comments on outsourcing of services to India should not 
overly bother New Delhi. "Once Obama is in office, he 
will realize that it is an interconnected world and 
countries have to work together," he was widely quoted as 
saying. 
 
¶17. COMMENT:  Judging by the number of Indians rooting 
for him at a packed election event at the American Center 
in New Delhi Wednesday, it would be no exaggeration to 
say that Senator Obama's margin of victory would have 
been even larger in India than it was in the United 
States. Concerns on Kashmir, non-proliferation and trade 
aside, the massive and highly favorable media coverage 
shows that India not only sees Barack Obama's victory as 
a signal of America at its best, but also a recognition 
that its own future is more closely entwined with the 
U.S. than ever before. 
WHITE