| Published on 01-09-2008 In General |
| Viewed 1132 times |
| Bush's skullduggery and Manmohan's desperation on show |
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Written by
Nilotpal Basu |
The situation in India is increasingly becoming a tragic-comedy. The huge investment that the Manmohan Singh government had made to win the trust vote has suddenly started appearing to be of no consequence. Despite the clearest announcement that the UPA government would convene the monsoon session of the Parliament from the Aug.11, the government had to soon go back on it. Now, after the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, the nation has been told that the session will begin from Oct.17 and go on till Nov.23. This, in effect, means that the government is clubbing the monsoon and the winter sessions and doing away with one complete session of the Parliament.
The trouble the government took for winning the trust vote was avowedly for the purpose of running the government. And, the basic structure of our republican democracy makes it incumbent that the executive is accountable to the nation and the people through the legislature. The enormity of the challenges that face us as a nation and the people ranging from the economic situation to the communal and divisive developments in Jammu & Kashmir and Orissa and the humongous natural calamity in Bihar – there is no dearth of grave issues that demand government's urgent attention and, more importantly, intervention. Doubtlessly, Parliament should have been the most appropriate forum for the government to address these.
However, it is apparent that, that is not to be. Why is it so? Despite the claims of the Prime Minister that his is not a `one issue government', it is quite clear that the postponement of the session leading to doing away with the winter session entirely is, indeed, the result of the government's obsession with the Indo-US nuclear deal.
And, the government, if it has any semblance of accountability towards the Parliament, does appear to be in serious trouble. Most of the observers of the deal, particularly those who were critical of the manner in which the government was proceeding had pointed out that it was a dangerous course. In fact, the linkage of the operationalisation of the deal with the formal approach to be made to the International Atomic Energy Agency for an India specific safeguards agreement is now being precisely vindicated. The progress of the deal beyond the IAEA safeguards does involve a process over which nobody in this country including the government has any control.
The developments within the Nuclear Suppliers Group meeting in Vienna, though officially classified, have thrown up clear verifiable signs of `foul play' by the US administration. Since NSG does not include India, it was the US administration, which in accordance with the provisions of the Bush-Manmohan Singh agreement was supposed to deliver a `clean waiver' recognizing the separation plan, which India proposed to put only its civil nuclear reactors for IAEA inspection in perpetuity.
The NSG was also supposed to ensure that a reciprocal fuel supply guarantee in perpetuity and a strategic reserve to provide a buffer for the civilian nuclear facilities in case there was a disruption or even break down of the agreement. The Prime Minister's claim was that this arrangement has been agreed to and will be ensured by the Bush administration even though India has not signed the NPT or the CTBT.
The pre-decisional proposals for the NSG prepared by the US administration have now been rejected by the NSG. These proposals which were agreed to by India was opposed by countries which one would find difficult to believe would do so, had the USA not been indulgent. That the US was less than keen to redeem its part of responsibility was amply clear from the quality and status of diplomats it fielded to ensure the delivery of the `clean waiver' package as promised. Not only that, now by agreeing to change the draft, the US is actually putting pressure on the Indian government to ensure that India is also fully on board the overall US package for a non-proliferation regime consistent with its idea of securing hegemony on this crucial question. It is the framework of Hyde Act, and Hyde Act alone, that will rule the roost. Obviously, the US has been emboldened by the suicidal course that Manmohan Singh government has embarked upon domestically and completely undermined any negotiating chip. The US changed pre-decisional proposal for the next round in the NSG in the first week of September, which is like a tightening noose around our neck.
So, the exercise is now on for putting drafting skill on display for the public consumption in this country. Forced to concede further ground to the US game plan, this exercise is aimed at helping the Prime Minister to make a public claim that it has not done so – that is the only purpose of this. But even with such pusillanimity, whether the government can save the deal or not is far from clear. The schedule of the US Congress seems to be coming in the way of Bush's hopes of interlocking India as a subordinate ally in a strategic partnership.
It is this uncertainty and US skullduggery – which, in any case, does not come as a surprise to the critics of the government's way of handling of the deal – that has cost India and its people a complete session of the Parliament. A shining example of transparency and good governance – the catch words used by the Prime Minister from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the Independence Day! |
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