To make a deal

The political reactions in the United States and India to the huge endorsement of the nuclear deal by the US House of Representatives on Tuesday offer a stark contrast. In Washington, the critics of the nuclear deal have accused the House Committee of 8220;caving in8221; to high profile lobbying by India. In New Delhi, we have the former national security advisor, Brajesh Mishra, charging the government of 8220;subjugating8221; India8217;s foreign policy to the US. Clearly both these propositions could not be true.

To be sure, politicking of this kind is normal in democracies. But there is a big and tragic difference in the opposition response to a major foreign policy initiative by the government. Despite an intense campaign by the non-proliferation activists against the nuclear deal, a large section of the opposition Democratic Party has voted for the deal in the House and the same is to be expected in the Senate on Thursday. At a time when George Bush8217;s ratings are touching rock bottom and when his administration claims the nuclear deal as its most important foreign policy success, influential Democrats have swallowed their deep dislike for the president and agreed to support the essence of his agreement with minor modifications on procedure. Here, in India, we have a pathetic display of partisanship from the BJP, which many see as the original sinner in 8220;selling out8221; to the US. Amidst this petty political wrangling, the grand sweep of the Indian nuclear deal and the great import of the Congressional readiness to change the three decades old non-proliferation law is being missed in New Delhi.

Just compare this whining to the political adjustments China had to make in getting the membership of the WTO and the most favoured nation status from the US a few years ago. Having missed joining the post-war global trading order, Communist China had to grovel in front of every member of WTO to get in. The US Congress imposed a series of unrelated demands on the administration8217;s policy towards China, that ranged from Tibet to workers rights. This did not deter Beijing from relentlessly pursuing the objective it had set for itself. As India tries to regain the lost access to global high technology markets, it should not let anything come in the way of taking the current nuclear engagement with the US to its logical conclusion.