That146;s politics

Although the Department of Atomic Energy badly needs imported fuel for its starved nuclear power programme, New Delhi can8217;t do much about Australia8217;s decision not to sell uranium to India. For the moment, the UPA government8217;s headache is not about finding uranium suppliers. Its problem is that India is not eligible, under current international non-proliferation law, to import anything nuclear. The Indo-US nuclear deal is about changing that regime to let India regain access to international nuclear markets. Unable to convince its communist partners to look beyond their ideological prejudices, the UPA government can hardly afford to get angry about Australia8217;s insensitive announcement.

If the UPA government can get its political act together and implement the nuclear deal, there are uranium suppliers other than Australia that India can turn to. Meanwhile, the Indian establishment needs to recognise that other governments too have domestic politics to contend with. The Australian Labour, which recently swept to power after more than a decade in wilderness, has a strong faction that, much like our own communists and peaceniks, has strong nuclear views. Australia8217;s Labour left insists that uranium can8217;t be sold to countries that do not sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Just as our communists can8217;t be made to see reason, there is no way of explaining to Labour8217;s disarmament activists that the NPT does not in any way prohibit Australia from selling uranium to India. Like 8216;anti-imperialism8217; to our communists, 8216;NPT8217; is a mantra for the Australian left.

To be fair, the new Australian foreign minister, Stephen Smith, was merely stating the current position of the Labour Party and the reality that India is not expected to sign the NPT. That Smith did not rule out a future policy review leaves some hope that Australia will eventually get it calculations right on the costs of nuclear hostility towards India. Labour8217;s decision to reverse the previous government8217;s interest in nuclear cooperation with India underlines the importance of timing in diplomacy. The longer India takes to get its own act together, there will be unpredictable developments abroad that could fatally damage India8217;s nuclear prospects. In politics, as in life, nothing is inevitable.