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UPA allies force Congress retreat on Nuclear deal |
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B.I. Saini
A week is a long time in politics and that was proved in no uncertain way last week in the Congress about-turn on the nuclear deal with the United States. On Sunday, Oct. 7, UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi talked in strident terms that those opposing the nuclear deal and the country’s quest for nuclear energy were not only against the Congress but also the country’s development agenda. But within two days, the Congress beat a hasty retreat, when at the meeting of the UPA-Left political committee on the nuclear deal, UPA allies like Lalu Prasad Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal, M. Karunanidhi’s DMK and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party came out against any move that would lead to dissolution of the Lok Sabha and a mid-term poll.
This became clearer on Thursday, Oct. 11, when RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and NCP president Sharad Pawar, dismissed any possibility of a mid-term poll in the country and said that there was no threat to the Manmohan Singh Government on account of differences with the Left over the Indo-US nuclear deal. Sharad Pawar who was in Patna, said that there will be no impact of the nuclear deal on the stability of the UPA Government.
RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav said, no party wants snap elections as this would not be in the interest of the nation, as he put it. In his words, “there was not even a remote chance of a mid-term election and all concerns voiced by the Left would be addressed in an amicable and cordial atmosphere.”
The icing on the cake was put by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, in their speeches at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, the following day on Oct. 12 when they virtually acknowledged that they had decided to halt negotiations on the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal. Both ruled out the possibility of an early general election and indicated that while efforts were being made to see the nuclear deal through, this was not a “one-issue” government, as they put it.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, while admitting that he would be disappointed if the nuclear deal did not go through, said that this would not be the “end of life.”
Both Dr. Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi said that their recent speeches perceived to be amounting to taking on the Left on the nuclear deal issue, were misinterpreted. Sonia Gandhi said that her Jhajjar speech where she had hit out at the critics of the deal was not targeted at the Left, and was only an attack on those opposing the Haryana Government. Dr. Manmohan Singh said that his observations on the nuclear deal published in The Telegraph, where he appeared to be daring the Left to withdraw support to the Government on the nuclear issue, were in response to public statements by the Communist parties. While reaffirming his belief that the nuclear deal is good for India and good for the world, the Prime Minister said that efforts are being made to reconcile the divergent points of view on the issue. Significantly, he said, “We are in the realm of politics where there are differences of perception,” adding that “politics was the art of the possible” and in politics, we must “survive short-term battles to address long-term concerns.”
With the Indo-US nuclear deal being put on the back-burner, it is doubtful whether the Manmohan Singh Government will be able to see it through during the remaining part of its normal tenure. It is also clear that the Left, having tasted blood in the battle over the nuclear deal, would be more assertive now and make the government toe its line on economic issues and matters concerning the “aam aadmi” or common man. The Government would virtually be reduced to the position of a lame-duck administration in the coming one and a half years before elections are held in early 2009, in the normal course.
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