Whether Prakash Karat has killed the N-deal or not, the Left sure has dealt a body blow to PM' hopes of getting India to the high table of international politics.
NEW DELHI: Whether Prakash Karat has killed the Indo-US nuclear deal or not, the Left sure has dealt a body blow to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s hopes of getting India to the high table of international politics.
Analysts who have backed the UPA move for the nuclear agreement refuse to believe that having come so far in trying to get the international community help India out of its nuclear isolation, the entire agreement will fall through.
“The Left has asked for a proper detailed debate in Parliament- they have not asked the government to scrap the deal. Once the discussions are through and the concerns of the various parties are taken, the negotiations with the IAEA and the NSG will take place.
I don’t believe the agreement will be scrapped,’’ said strategic analyst K Subrahmanyam, who has backed the Indo-US nuclear agreement to the hilt.
Subrahmanyam is confident that the agreement will not die. “Remember the nuclear deal is a follow through of the negotiations begun by the Vajpayee led BJP coalition. A future government can pick up the threads,’’ he said.
India’s former ambassador to the UN in Geneva, known for her defence of India’s position on the comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), is worried that time may just run out for the nuclear deal.
With the US going into election mode next year, if there is delay in getting the IAEA India specific protocol and the NSG clearance, the US Congress which has to vote on it, may not have the time or the inclination to do so, Arundhati Ghosh said.
“Delay can possibly kill the deal, though I still believe it will go through,’’ opined Ghosh. “This is to do with Parliamentary arithmetic and nothing else, though for the Left it is an ideological opposition to the US. Would they have opposed it if it was with Russia,’’ asked Ghosh.
Anti-nuclear activist Praful Bidwai, agrees with the CPM that the agreement lacks legitimacy as it does not have widespread acceptance in the country.
“It is hard to say if the deal is already dead, but one thing is sure it will be extremely difficult for the government to push it now,’’ said Bidwai.
Blaming the PM for the nuke imbroglio, Bidwai said, “Being a bureaucrat himself, he allowed the bureaucrats to dictate terms. He provoked the Left into taking this stand,’’said Bidwai.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}