Monday, July 14, 2008

What's the deal here?

The Indo-US nuclear deal is a convenient reason for the Congress to distance itself from the nagging Left. Neither the Congress nor Dr. Singh is serious about the deal. All the latest events are a ploy to divert the nation’s attention from other serious issues like price rise, internal security, Chinese aggression etc. It is clear that the Congress and the UPA are on the defensive on these subjects. So the deal gives them something to divert our attention with. That it is a ploy should be clear from the fact that the Left (consistent and principled politics? BAH!) now finds Dr. Singh the villain in the act rather than the Congress. (Trying to keep our options open, are we Karat?)

On the other hand, this whole saga could really be fallout. Dr. Singh, who continually exhorted on building a broad consensus on the deal in India, declares he is going ahead with the next steps towards the deal without taking the nation into confidence. So much for being our nations’ Prime Minister! No concerns for “broad consensus” now? And the hesitation in sharing the text for the IAEA drafts claiming they were classified when the whole world could read it over the internet was simply ridiculous. It makes one question Dr. Singh’s loyalty to the nation. No wonder Shri. L K Advani wonders if something else is at play here.

And just how serious is Dr. Singh about this deal? If he indeed was serious enough, he would not have waited this late in trying to get the deal signed. He chose to wait hoping he would get the Left parties to agree to it and long enough until he could count on someone else for support. Surely he knew that the Left would never agree to such a deal.

Dr. Singh did not take the parliament into confidence, there is little consensus over it, the public is ill informed about the deal, the media is hard at work in trying to sell the deal on behalf of the Congress with it’s biased coverage, all these should be reasons enough for doubt. However, and all of a sudden, the Congress finding new best friends in arch rivals, Mulayam and Amar Singh should be a giveaway about dubiousness of this mess of a deal.

No comments: