Left with no time

The debate about the Indo-US civil nuclear initiative has long ceased to be a technical one. It is now about the Congress leadership8217;s political will to wrap up the next steps in implementing the historic initiative. Put simply, is the Congress ready to put India8217;s nuclear interests above the political survival of the UPA? The cavalier manner in which the Congress calls and cancels the UPA meetings on the subject amidst the rapidly shrinking international deadlines for clinching the civil nuclear initiative underlines the unfortunate but inescapable reality that the Congress might be more concerned about offending its communist partners than doing what is right by the nation. The UPA8217;s nuclear consultations with the communists seem little more than a political charade. For, the ideologically blinkered communists have made it so plain, and so often, that they will not be persuaded to support an end to India8217;s three and a half decades of nuclear isolation. At issue, however, is not what the communists have to say, but where the Congress stands on the nuclear question.

It might not be entirely fair to measure the current performance of the Sonia Gandhi-Manmohan Singh dispensation against the nuclear legacy of Rajiv Gandhi, who boldly ordered the building of atomic bombs nearly two decades ago. Sonia and Manmohan, however, come out poorly even in comparison to the last Congress prime minister, P.V. Narasimha Rao. Unlike Rajiv, Rao did not have a massive parliamentary majority and had to cope with a difficult internal and external environment. Rao did not have the courage to conduct nuclear tests during his time in office, but he certainly protected India8217;s nuclear option against relentless international pressures and let his successor, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, complete what he himself could not.

In contrast to Rao, Sonia Gandhi and Dr Singh have enjoyed a rare and benign international environment. Even domestically, the political argument for the nuclear initiative would seem to be won when a minister like Saifuddin Soz insists on the possibility of taking it forward. The Left may seem to hold the cards when they link support to the UPA to abstinence on the nuclear deal. It is not just that the Congress must tally on the legislature an initiative it ostensibly is committed to against the sacrifice of a progressively shorter remaining term in office. The Congress must also pause and ask, even in the possibility of a snap election, what would the Left8217;s options be thereafter? The obvious answer may bring home the point to the Congress and to the government that they too hold considerable leverage in moving forward on an issue of significant national interest.