India's Singh Seeks Support for Nuclear Deal | Voice of America - English
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is desperately trying to salvage a nuclear deal with the United States that would give his country access to nuclear fuel and technology for its power plants, despite its refusal to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.  Mr. Singh says although there is some political opposition in India to the deal, he hopes to take a positive message to U.S. President George W.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singhissued a public plea to his leftist allies in parliament to let the nucleardeal with the United Statesmove ahead. That agreement would mandateinternational inspections of India'scivilian nuclear facilities and will give access to India to the Western nucleartechnology and the much-needed nuclear fuel for its power plants. Mr. Singh says before he presents thenuclear agreement in Indian parliament and the deal goes to the U.S. Congressfor final approval, he has to take certain steps for which the time is runningout. "We have to go to the IAEA toget an India-specific (Nuclear) safeguards agreement," says Mr. Singh. "Then we have to go to theNuclear Suppliers Group to relax their present restrictive attitudes towardtrade with Indiain nuclear materials." But India's communistlawmakers, such as Prakash Karat, oppose the deal. "The bilateral agreementnegotiated with the United Statesadministration will bind Indiainto a strategic alliance with the U.S. with long-termconsequences," says Karat. India's well-known defense analyst, K.Subrahmaniyam, says he does not understand the concerns of the left-wing about India's strategic alliance with the United States. "But we have strategic partnership notonly with the Americans. We also have it with European Union. We have it withRussians. We are having it with Japanese," says Subrahmaniyam. "If things shape out all right, oneday we may have it with the Chinese. Therefore there is nothing veryconspiratorial about strategic partnerships." South Asia expert at the Woodrow WilsonCenter, Dennis Kux, says the problemis that for this group of communists in India the Cold War has not yetended. "In the case of India the communists, particularly the group inparliament just does not want an association with the United States, because this would be in a way acapstone of the new relationship that has developed over the years between the United States and India," says Kux. "This was really the, fromthe Indian perspective, this was the last line on the sand, and the communistsdon't want it." A long time observer of Indianpolitics, Walter Andersen at the JohnsHopkins University,agrees that as far as India'sforeign policy is concerned India'sleftists are die-hard communists who do not want Indiato get close to the United  States. "They do not want any kind ofimproved relationship [with the U.S.] and they often wrap this up in the mantleof 'nationalism' to protect the strategic autonomy of the country,which is also the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] argument by the way. But infact unlike the BJP, they are genuinely anti-American," says Anderson. The communists are not a partner in India's rulingcoalition government, but support it from the outside. Now they say if the dealgoes ahead, they would not support the ruling coalition in a no-confidencevote. This could mean a new electionearlier than the scheduled polls next year in May. Apparently, Mr. Singh's Congress Party does not want to call early elections because of the double digitinflation and the rising cost of the oil.Reports from New Delhisay Mr. Singh is trying to bypass his leftist allies and win the support ofopposition parties such as Mulayam Singh Yadav's socialist Samajwadi Party. South Asia expert Walter Andersen says heunderstands Mr. Singh's urgency. "Something literally has to bedone in the next week or two for the present U.S. Congress to take it up beforethe next Congress sits on January 20," says Andersen. "And the next Congress may be lessfriendly [toward the deal] than the present one." He says if opponents in India continueto delay, time could run out and there will be no deal at all. He says the chances of a new U.S.administration approving the deal are slim. "Would a new administration ofBarrack Obama or John Mccain be as enthusiastic? Neither one has shown the samekind of interest that George Bush has shown. And in fact Obama has shown moreinterest in nuclear non-proliferation measures," says Andersen. In Washington, Senate ForeignRelations Committee Chairman, Joseph Biden says if India gets IAEA approval, he willwork hard to get the deal approved. Prime Minister Singh has beenemphasizing to the opponents of the nuclear deal that he is going to ahead withthe nuclear agreement because it is in India's national interest. South Asia specialist Dennis Kux,says there is no doubt that Indiaessentially got what it wanted. "[India]wanted acceptance by the United States as a nuclear power, it wanted thevarious restrictions that it had been put on over the years and it got it. Thenegotiations were extremely difficult, extremely time consuming," says Kux. "But in the endIndiaessentially got what it wanted. It was able to keep its military facilities,there is no inspection of the military facilities. It gets a guarantee ofnuclear fuel. It has access to international technology, civil technology andit has acceptance really of its nuclear weapon status." Kux says if at the end of the day India fails toclinch the deal, it could raise questions about its future as a great power. "This was something thegovernment of Indianegotiated," said Kux. "The government of Indiagot what it wanted and then it does not appear to have the fortitude to push itthrough. That does not put India in thebest light." Kux says considering India's growing economy, the country needspower, and the deal will provide India not only with power, butclean power.