Political commentator Mr. Premshankar Jha in his article in Outlook magazine had termed the UPA government under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as the weakest India had ever seen for its indecisiveness on many issues important for India’s national interest. The Indo-US civil nuclear deal was among one of many such issues cited by him. Although late in the day but still the prime minister has mustered enough courage and has acted like a true statesman expected from a head of the state by asserting to both powers-to-be in Congress and the UPA constituents, including the left parties, that he would rather step down than going back on the nuclear deal and risk loss of India’s credibility among international community. Kudos to Prime Minister! Kudos to Congress President Sonia Gandhi as well for standing by him knowing fully well that endorsing the PM’s decision to move forward towards finalizing the deal, the Left parties would surely withdraw support to the government! Now on one front, both I and Mr. Jha and millions of concerned Indians have something to cheer about.
The decision to go ahead on the deal reflects that there are still some leaders left in Congress who have political acumen and courage. These leaders must have articulated various permutations and combinations so convincingly that it helped Congress President and UPA Chairperson to take a firm decision to go ahead with the deal, come what may. Mr. Abhishek Singhvi is one of them. He said very rightly on NDTV’s “News at 10” on June 30 that “there is no indispensability in politics and there is no vacuum in politics,” while debating the consequences of going ahead with the deal. It is inevitable that the Left parties will withdraw support reducing the UPA government to minority making early general elections a high probability. It will be sad and unfortunate if the Left does that because the likes of Mr. Prakash Karat, Mr. Sitaram Yechury and Mr. Bardhan are among those very few incorruptible and sincere political leaders left in this country. We need them and appeal to them to climb down from their positions on the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Deal and let the government give it a try. There is no harm in it; we have our options open to take appropriate steps if our national security so warrants, and the international community appreciates this scenario. Even though it may jeopardize the agreement, we are still free to take those steps. But, alas, nothing is indispensable and so in the event the Left combine leaves the coalition, the vacuum is likely to be filled by Mr. Mulayamsingh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party to keep the government afloat. If not for anything, our future generations will be grateful to Mr. Mulayamsingh Yadav when they look back in history and find out that it was him who saved the deal with his party’s timely support to the government of Manmohan Singh. Because, the several years from now, India would have secured its energy future, ensured cleaner environment and achieved tremendous technological advances, thanks to the Deal.
The left objections to the deal stem from their fear that it would make India a subject of the United States. This fear is completely unfounded. India has and can never become subject to anyone. Look at its thousands of years of history. It has not become subject to those who ruled her, including the Moguls and the British Empire. After independence, it has not become subject to any language, to any race or religion, to any culture and to those about five hundred princely states. Another fear is that the nuclear energy is economically unviable to produce at the price affordable to consumers. The benefits of the deal far extend beyond just energy generation. But even if we assume it is only for the energy generation, this observation is not true. Look at the energy model of France. France adopted nuclear energy option in 1970 and today about 40 percent of its primary energy needs and 80 percent of its electricity is nuclear energy at affordable price. No one is complaining there. France’s ambassador to India in an editorial in the June 30 edition of TOI has reaffirmed that France would help India in developing nuclear power technology and management. China too has entered similar agreement with the United States and proposed one with Pakistan. It is not likely to oppose the India specific deal in the NSG because it would not want a neighbor who is the fifth highest energy consumer to continue to rely on coal for their energy generation and risking severely adverse environmental consequences in the region. I am sure China too will soon make a slow but sure shift from coal to nuclear energy. Their cities are choking!
I once again appeal to all political parties to act in nonpartisan manner in our national interest, including to Bhartiya Janata Party which is also endowed with some great leaders.
I welcome your comment and vote for or against the deal. Please give reasons for either so that we can discuss further here.
The decision to go ahead on the deal reflects that there are still some leaders left in Congress who have political acumen and courage. These leaders must have articulated various permutations and combinations so convincingly that it helped Congress President and UPA Chairperson to take a firm decision to go ahead with the deal, come what may. Mr. Abhishek Singhvi is one of them. He said very rightly on NDTV’s “News at 10” on June 30 that “there is no indispensability in politics and there is no vacuum in politics,” while debating the consequences of going ahead with the deal. It is inevitable that the Left parties will withdraw support reducing the UPA government to minority making early general elections a high probability. It will be sad and unfortunate if the Left does that because the likes of Mr. Prakash Karat, Mr. Sitaram Yechury and Mr. Bardhan are among those very few incorruptible and sincere political leaders left in this country. We need them and appeal to them to climb down from their positions on the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Deal and let the government give it a try. There is no harm in it; we have our options open to take appropriate steps if our national security so warrants, and the international community appreciates this scenario. Even though it may jeopardize the agreement, we are still free to take those steps. But, alas, nothing is indispensable and so in the event the Left combine leaves the coalition, the vacuum is likely to be filled by Mr. Mulayamsingh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party to keep the government afloat. If not for anything, our future generations will be grateful to Mr. Mulayamsingh Yadav when they look back in history and find out that it was him who saved the deal with his party’s timely support to the government of Manmohan Singh. Because, the several years from now, India would have secured its energy future, ensured cleaner environment and achieved tremendous technological advances, thanks to the Deal.
The left objections to the deal stem from their fear that it would make India a subject of the United States. This fear is completely unfounded. India has and can never become subject to anyone. Look at its thousands of years of history. It has not become subject to those who ruled her, including the Moguls and the British Empire. After independence, it has not become subject to any language, to any race or religion, to any culture and to those about five hundred princely states. Another fear is that the nuclear energy is economically unviable to produce at the price affordable to consumers. The benefits of the deal far extend beyond just energy generation. But even if we assume it is only for the energy generation, this observation is not true. Look at the energy model of France. France adopted nuclear energy option in 1970 and today about 40 percent of its primary energy needs and 80 percent of its electricity is nuclear energy at affordable price. No one is complaining there. France’s ambassador to India in an editorial in the June 30 edition of TOI has reaffirmed that France would help India in developing nuclear power technology and management. China too has entered similar agreement with the United States and proposed one with Pakistan. It is not likely to oppose the India specific deal in the NSG because it would not want a neighbor who is the fifth highest energy consumer to continue to rely on coal for their energy generation and risking severely adverse environmental consequences in the region. I am sure China too will soon make a slow but sure shift from coal to nuclear energy. Their cities are choking!
I once again appeal to all political parties to act in nonpartisan manner in our national interest, including to Bhartiya Janata Party which is also endowed with some great leaders.
I welcome your comment and vote for or against the deal. Please give reasons for either so that we can discuss further here.
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