Big deal
June 26, 2008
Recently there were demands that Mr. Advani could be a “statesman” by coming out in support of the deal. The BJP points of opposition is somewhat different from the stance of the left, they are not opposed to the deal as such, they want that the deal be renegotiated and not agree to put a cap on the nuclear tests. Still listening to the calls for support, the PM aspirant has come out to spell it out again that they are not opposed to the deal as such. Besides the deal was a internal matter of UPA more than the NDA, and its not as if the Congress is engaged in trying to convince the BJP or the other NDA partners about the deal. The statements by Advani are indicative of a compromise in the stance to save the deal, and the PM has not spent any time to have a dialogue with the BJP to gain consensus. On an earlier occasion also the PM has been calling desperately for consensus when the political cards are played by Sonia.
And if the government falls because of the deal, it is not as if the BJP can support it because the governance has been pathetic on many counts and the BJP as the opposition has been critical of the bad policies of the government. The BJP could vote in favour of the deal in the parliament if the issue should come up, which it is not likely to. In any case the PM himself has not initiated any dialogue as such. Then what statesmanship are we talking about? The congress refuses to acknowledge that when most parties except itself are opposed to the deal, the deal should either be renegotiated or should be let go of. But the congress today has issued signs of indifference towards other parties’ opinions and said that they would go ahead with the deal.
The left has shown its true communal colours, this time in full glare of the media. It is increasingly obvious that their opposition to the deal was meant to pander to the minorities, placing the interests of a community over those of the nation.
The leaders of Muslim organisations for their part who had opposed the deal said that they were opposed to the deal because it was against national interest and that it had nothing to their Muslim identity. The SP also has said that they know the minorities very well. Somehow no one has opposed the claim that the SP has the Muslims in their pocket. Even the SP has not gone ahead to decline it, they have acknowledged the fact and said that they “know the minorities” very well and need not be lectured on the subject by the left.
The congress finally took some stance and did not yet make any efforts to get a real concensus with the opposition as well. Yet it did take a stance and while they pat their backs for it, we have to lament that this feat was reserved for a deal which is rather not in the interest of the country which inspite of all the claims by the congress is not a do-or-die situation. It is not imperative for the nation’s energy security, in the present form.
Saakshi 
I believe that Left was not being communal here. It’s argument that the deal would aleniate the Muslims was an attempt to get SP along. Besides, the only concern they ever had was of Chinese supremacy over the region.
Also, the media has not done a good job of highlighting the reasons why the BJP is opposed to the current deal. They have lumped the Left & the BJP together saying they are opposed to the deal. But then again, that’s not surprising knowing where their allegiance lies, of the media that is.
The concerns raised by Arun Shourie & Yashwant Sinha have not been highlighted by the media at all. It mouths only what the Congress wants it to.
I think it is communal to speak in terms of a religion based vote bank especially when it the issue is not affecting their religion in a negative or a positive manner particularly. The left has followed a policy of keeping the muslims and christians in good humour, and that apart from Chinese loyality which makes them make policies such as this and deporting Taslima Nasreen. All said and done, the left also is scared of the muslims because they live under the illusion of a bigger evil being nationalism.
Arun Shourie was able to put his point to the media and has been published about his viewpoint. While the media is generally more biased, this time it is less so, it is some inherent bias also in the readers that makes them dismiss any opinion coming from the BJP without review of the facts.
Arun Shourie did get to put his views through IE, I agree. However, those views were not discussed in the mainstream. I guess what I’m trying to say is that, an overwhelming majority of time & space has been spent on discussing the supposed benefits of the deal & not enough bringing out the traps set in the Hyde act. This creates a general impression that the deal is good for us & that the BJP is against something that’s good for the nation.
The readers tend to dismiss BJP thanks to their ‘communal’ & ‘hardline’ impression created by the media. (This is not to say that the BJP gets things right all the time, they do bungle up).
M’aam,
Why do you feel the nuclear deal is not beneficial to India? And according to Indian constitution, ”most parties” don’t decide India’s foreign policy; the government of the day does.
Confused, I dont argue that the deal is not useful for India. It is in the in the long term interest of India that it goes ahead with the deal. But looking at the current deadlock, the deal seems to have gone into coma state.
As you said the foreign policy is decided mostly by the ruling party. But it should also take some lessons from history and think for the nation. Dr. Manmohan did the right thing by going forward on the deal. But he was just too late — was caught by the Left. If he is sincere and still believes that the deal should be done, he should approach the opposition parties like BJP who are not principally against the deal.
But the tragedy is if the govt goes to IAEA, they would not survive the next moment. Prabhu Chawla of India Today makes a very good point that though the PM seems honest on the deal, his party would fail him because they dont want an early election and hence, the PM should evolve as a leader at least now and stop being led by Sonia Maino, and go to the people.
Seeing all this drama, common man wonders as to what he really could get out of this much hyped deal, when the prices are soaring like anything, when country’s major infrastructure projects are in shambles, when insurgency and militancy have severed and terrorists and maoists are threatening nation’s internal security.
This government has done nothing, absolutely no such thing that it can be proud of. If the deal would have been successful, it would given some mileage but would not have won many votes for the UPA. Rather, common man’s problems have to be addressed and that is very imperative. Not the nuclear deal, for that it can wait a year or two more.
I think dosabandit’s point is well made that the BJP was not “effective” in getting their point across.
The deal issue has revealed some things
1. Congress also is equally ineffective in handling the wannabe rebels in CPM
2. The congress is wrongly projecting a desperation for the deal, while in reality it is not “essential” to the nation though would be effective.
3. The deal as such is very one sided, and does not safeguard some of India’s interests. However these are against an unlikely eventuality and can be compromised upon.
4. The calls for this statesmanly intervention by Advani would be like, Gandhian unnegotiated support, mostly not helpful. Advani still should wait to see if the congress itself is interested in the deal through his support. As the government is bound to fall immediately after the deal goes through with his support.
5. Interestingly the govt. of the day should decide on the deal, but we bloggers reserve the rights to criticise the moves of the government. Now the part of most parties is mostly a oft-repeated phrase of Manmohan Singhji. He wants it go through with political consensus, but will do next to nothing to ensure that consensus.
Besides, this is a coalition government, if nothing the coalition partners should be in agreement, the left, the dmk, are also part of this, if the ruling government parties itself were in favour of the deal, then its gross negligence and inefficiency that the deal is not going through.
And I think Saakshi mentions that congress has broken the trend and has actually taken a decision, but its something that has been done rather insincerely (by creating falsehoods) and against the best interests of the nation.
Lastly, the BJP has been a pathetic opposition, they have not been effective at all. And their opposition to fuel price rise is very populist and mistaken.
I absolutely agree. Truth is that UPA ha failed their primary promise towards the “common man” and now want to cover everthing with a nuclear deal.