Biding its time

Amidst all the confusion that reigned in the immediate aftermath of the release of the India-IAEA safeguards agreement, one section that determinedly kept itself out of the scene was the group of top officials overseeing the negotiations on the agreement. So keen were these officials to avoid getting involved in the political mudslinging that it took them 72 hours to come forth and explain the provisions of the safeguards agreement in detail after the political class breathed down on them. In sharp contrast, last year, the Foreign Secretary had held a get-together for select journalists to explain the 123 agreement even before it had been made public. Meanwhile, the political establishment did not lose much time in taking the matter to the public. With full page advertisements in the newspapers explaining the benefits of the nuclear deal, the Government seems to have decided to make it an election issue, something that was not considered feasible by many. Whether it succeeds in its endeavour or not will be known only later but the Government, which had become used to being pushed around for four years by its Left allies, certainly seems emboldened after the Left snubbed it, and confident enough to try out its own ideas.