We don’t need the Americans to tell us what to do!

'When all the facts are known, if they ever are, it will likely turn out that both Ms Khobragade and Ms Richard might have been at fault and so too might both governments be faulted, the US for a needlessly aggressive approach in the first place and India for its ham-handed response in the early stages of the affair,' says Rupa Subramanya.

Strangely, various commentary has been quick to condemn Ms Khobragade, and unquestioningly accepted Ms Richard's version of events, painting her as a helpless victim. India is once again, it would appear, on the wrong side of international (mostly Western) public opinion.

The arrest of Devyani Khobragade, the deputy consul general for India in New York over alleged visa fraud by paying her domestic help, a Government of India employee, less than the legal minimum wage in the state of New York, has caused a diplomatic row between the US and India.

The case has garnered international notice for the harsh spotlight that it apparently casts on working conditions in India (in particular, how middle class and well-to-do Indians treat their domestic help) and of Indians working abroad in diplomatic missions.

Equally, the case has received much attention in India because of the fact that Ms Khobragade was not only handcuffed, but strip-searched by the US Marshals who placed her under arrest.

A slew of editorials and op-eds in American and British newspapers and Web sites have argued that the real issue here is the violation of the human rights of the domestic worker Sangeeta Richard.

Why does 'India care more about a well-heeled diplomat than a poor helpless maid?' is a standard trope in the commentary. For most, though not all Indian commentators, the issue is rather the harsh treatment meted out to Ms Khobragade in what is ostensibly a friendly bilateral relationship between two democracies.

Some international and Indian commentators also criticise the tough retaliatory measures taken by the Indian government in response to what happened in New York, most provocatively removing security barriers around the US embassy in New Delhi, which had earlier been provided as a courtesy to the Americans.

To many Indians by contrast, this is a perfectly legitimate response to a needlessly hostile and far from courteous act by a friendly and well-meaning partner country which seemed to have caught everyone off guard, including apparently officials at the White House and the State Department.

Indians don't need The New York Times or the Washington Post (external link) to tell them that wages and working conditions in India are poorer than they are in the United States.

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We don't need the Americans to tell us what to do!