India's Muslims Get a Thumbs-Up From the US: The WikiLeaks Cable

Among the quarter-million diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks in late 2010, one of the most discussed in India was not about spying or scandal but about praise. A December 2005 cable from David Mulford, then the US envoy in New Delhi, offered what amounted to a rousing endorsement of India's secular democracy — and of its Muslim citizens.

Mulford, writing at Washington's request, recorded that India's "vibrant democracy, inclusive culture and growing economy have made it easier for Muslim youth to find a place in the mainstream, reduced the pool of potential recruits, and the space in which Islamic extremist organizations can operate." A "vast majority" of Indian Muslims, he wrote, remained committed to the Indian state and sought to participate in mainstream politics and economic life, cutting down the scope for extremist recruitment.

The cable argued that India's secular education system was integrating Muslim students into the mainstream and producing a growing, prosperous Muslim middle class — and that the economic upturn had changed the old dynamic in which extremist groups treated Indian universities as recruiting grounds.

The commentary reportedly shaped President George W. Bush's view of India as a bulwark against Islamic extremism. Bush repeatedly cited the country as a model of how democracy could give grievances an outlet, noting how few extremist recruits came from India despite its enormous Muslim population — one of the largest in the world.

The cable's flattering portrait was convenient for New Delhi, and it is worth remembering who wrote it and why: an American ambassador making the case, in 2005, for a strategic partnership Washington wanted. But the core observation — that India's Muslims have overwhelmingly chosen the ballot box over the gun — is a fact the country's democracy can genuinely claim.