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India moves into US embrace as Cong
strikes power
deal to save N-deal
WSN Bureau
 NEW DELHI:
After
tearing itself apart for months over the Nuclear Deal with the
United States, the Congress-led alliance government in India finally
came close to its nemesis — the left parties withdrew their
life-giving support of 59 MPs, reducing the alliance to a minority —
but Sonia Gandhi rushed to stich a deal with the man she perhaps
hated most, Amar Singh of Samajwadi Party, in order to ensure that
the Manmohan Singh government survives. As of course will the
Nuclear Deal that has seen massive support from Indian middle
classes and virtually no consensus in any other section of the
populace.
Amar Singh is
known as the great wheeler-dealer in Indian politics,modelled on his
Left Guru Harkishen Singh Surjeet, father of deal-striking in India.
For years, Amar Singh and Sonia Gandhi were not even on civil terms
with each other; now it seems they have found love on nuclear terms.
It is interesting to note what a civilian nuclear deal can do, with
a bit of hurrying up by Uncle Sam.
The Sikhs, of
course, have not aired much of an opinion on the issue; the ruling
Akali Dal in Punjab merely maintained that it will go with whatever
the BJP-RSS led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will decide.
Punjab has so far been such a fringe voice and presence in the
Indian media and political debate that no one would have even
noticed any shrill notes. On Wednesday, just as this WSN edition was
going to the press, the Left parties formally withdrew support to
the UPA government as leaders of the four Left parties handed over
letters of withdrawal to President Pratibha Patil.
The four Left
parties have 59 members in the Lok Sabha. The four Left parties also
gave a separate letter asking the President to convene a session of
the Lok Sabha and direct Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek a
trust vote. The political developments over the civilian nuclear
deal with the US had reached a crescendo on Tuesday with the Left
announcing withdrawal of support to the UPA government over its move
to go to the International Atomic Energy Agency Board of Governors
to seal the safeguards accord.
The CPI(M), CPI,
RSP and Forward Bloc immediately decided that if the government
“goes to the IAEA Board of Governors, they will withdraw support. In
view of the Prime Minister’s announcement, that time has come.”
Manmohan Singh on Monday, while on way to
Japan,
had announced that the government would go to the IAEA “very soon.”
There was some
speculation in the media that the Akali Dal may vote in favour of
the government but Sukhbir Singh Badal was quick to scotch the
rumours. Following the withdrawal of support by Left parties the
strength of the ruling coalition has been reduced to 230. The
Mulayam Singh-Amar Singh led Samajwadi Party, which has 39 MPs in
the Lok Sabha, has announced support to the government which still
leaves the ruling UPA three members short of majority.
Why the
opposition? And what step next?
The Indian
Government is bent on strategic embrace and has been trying to forge
a strategic partnership with the US. Manmohan Singh believes in the
importance of
India
as a strategic partner of the US. But tt is not just the access to
civilian nuclear technology and uranium fuel, including enrichment
and reprocessing facilities, that the deal’s votaries claim is in
India’s interest, but New Delhi’s new foreign policy itself which is
predicated upon its strategic embrace of Washington. The left
parties maintain that deal, the concomitant 123 agreement, together
with the Hyde Act on which it is based, “impose a host of
discriminatory restrictions on India’s nuclear programme” and also
render “Indian foreign policy a permanent hostage to the US”. Having
entered into the agreement, the next step New Delhi had to take was
to negotiate a safeguards agreement with IAEA and then approach the
IAEA board to approve it.
9
July, 2008
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