Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Stakes too high in today's India vote

July 22, 2008


Stakes too high in today's India vote

TODAY is crucial for the future of India. The government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is seeking a vote of confidence from parliament over a controversial agreement on nuclear co-operation with the US. It seemed to be touch and go yesterday, with leaders of the dominant Congress Party claiming they have secured 271 votes in the 541-seat parliament. That is only the half-way mark, and Congress hopes were pinned on "persuading" some members of opposition parties to abstain.
Indeed, it is all a game of numbers, but at stake is the political direction of the country on the international front. The issue that warranted the confidence vote today is the so-called "nuclear deal" with the US. Leftist parties, which have always ruled out "strategic co-operation" with the US, quit the ruling coalition, leaving the government with the task of mustering a majority in parliament without them. And that is what the government is trying to do today.
Critics say the nuclear agreement with the US is not desirable for India because the caveats associated with it would enslave the country to the sole superpower. Proponents argue that the only way India could be self-reliant for its energy needs is the nuclear route.
Manmohan Singh's determination to press ahead with the deal is uncharacteristic of Indian politicians because the US is not exactly the favourite country for Indian voters. It is even argued that the nuclear move with the US could cost the Congress party the next elections.
But Manmohan Singh, who is credited with switching India to the fast-track of economic development through liberal trade policies in the early 90s, does not seem to be bothered about elections: He was never directly elected to parliament in his two-decade-old public life. The Congress party took advantage of a constitutional provision that allows indirectly elected politicians to head the government and installed Manmohan Singh as prime minister.
Against that backdrop, he could be impervious to public opinion and capable of acting with decisiveness and foresight.
There is no doubt that Manmohan Singh is fully convinced that the nuclear deal is in India's interests. He expressed it clearly when he told parliament while presenting the confidence motion that "every single decision, every policy decision was taken in the fullest confidence that it was in the best interest of the people of the count
However, the bottom line is that the nuclear co-operation agreement, if implemented, will signal a dramatic shift in India's foreign police and bind the country with the US. Manmohan Singh, who is deemed to be convinced of the imperative of changing India's foreign policy, wants to make that transformation irreversible.
The elected representatives of the people of India are voting today not simply on whether the country needs nuclear power-generating plans to meet its needs of energy. They are voting on whether to change the "non-aligned" course that India had embraced for itself more than five decades ago and firm up its position in the US-led camp.
It parliament comes with a majority "yes" vote today, then would mean India sealing a "strategic partnership" with the US, whether desirable or otherwise. If it is a "no," then it would deal a severe blow to the country's efforts on the economic development front because of the paralysis that would follow in the absence of a strong and stable government.