Indo-US nuclear deal: dead or in deep freeze?
Posted : October 21, 2007 at 4:29 am [IST]
It is only because of a weak government dependent on many regional and leftist political parties, India and its PM had to go back on the Indo-US nuclear deal. It is matter of shame for the PM who wouldn’t have shown so much of initiative and enthusiasm to go closer to US and for the deal, when he was not sure of taking the UPA with him. India must at least appreciate one thing of US President. He went out of the way to support the deal and get it move fast through its system taking very personal interest unlike any other past president on any similar issue.Road ahead for the seal will be tougher. It is quite logical if the western developed nations consider the loss of deal in bad taste and India as unreliable partner or India government as one that can’t get any major agreement pass through its system. The deal has become one of the most controversial subject of national importance. Many have varying views.
The main spoilers of the deal are the leftist parties. As a policy, they will not allow India to go closer to US. What is the alternative left for India? Left to the comrades, they will like India to remain weak enough so that China can become a superpower without any competition from India.
Manmohan and, may be his Congress party too, are trying to keep the door open to the deal with their statement of the continuing effort for getting national consensus. How ever, the leftists are hell bent on making Congress and Manmohan to commit that they have dropped the deal. The leftist expects a formal written communication from the UPA about the government’s decision on not initiating talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the India-US civil nuclear deal. It keeps its pressure on and expects it to declare that the Indo-US nuclear deal is “off” when the UPA-Left committee meets on Monday. I don’t understand how can a government run with such a party in alliance which keeps on threatening the government and expects every thing that it thinks as right to be carried out by the government.
Leftists have been constantly pushing on logic. Why should India go for the nuclear deal when its scientists and technocrats are capable of building indigenous nuclear power plant? How poor is this almost childish inference? Can any scientists and technocrats agree with the leftists? Can Indian science live in isolation? Do the leftists wish to transform India into a North Korea? Can any country today with an aspiration to become an economic power live in such isolation? Will these comrades stop sending their children for higher studies to US?
The most important aspect of the Indo-US deal was to end the Indian isolation from the latest R&D activities in the developed countries. And Congress would have gone for it taking even some amount of risk of the untimely end of this inning of the present government. Who knows with the internal politics of BJP and the disenchantment of the Indian people about the other political parties, Congress would have come with better numbers in the next parliament?
- Indra
Category: Indian politics |
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