By Seema Mustafa
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said that the 123 Agreement will not be re-negotiated. And this is expected to convince the people of India that he is a strong Prime Minister, a man of convictions, a person who does not let down those he has given a commitment to, and somewhere in the midst of all this, he is also a patriot and a nationalist.
This is what the spin masters in his office and the Congress party wanted the message to be. But how have the people of India read it? Going by the majority of their representatives in Parliament, the Prime Minister has sold India’s strategic soul to the Americans, he gave the political instructions to his officials to bend over backwards and ensure that the deal was done (Nicholas Burns has said that the Indian team came to Washington determined to complete the deal), and then use double talk, a deviously drafted text, and falsehoods to convince the Indian parliamentarians and media that theirs was a job well done. And that India’s interests had been fully protected. The media looking at the government for approval was convinced, with even seemingly independent newspapers falling like skittles, but fortunately, the politicians did not let the country down. The NDA, UNPA and the Left that comprise the majority in Parliament have come out in a resoundingly strong rebuttal of the deal, a complete rejection, and a warning to the government not to proceed with the anti-national pact.
And what was the Prime Minister’s response? A telephone call to the Left, after which the men in his office informed the media that he had read out the bottom line, and there was no question of going back on the deal. Really? What an audacious response! The entire Parliament, except for the few in the UPA and the allies, mind you, are completely silent on this, has come out to reject the deal, and the Prime Minister of democratic India insists that he will exercise his right as the executive and will go ahead with the deal. Who is he? A leader nominated to the post by a political party that could not get a majority in Parliament, and could cobble together a government only with the support of a number of regional parties. Even this was not enough and the Left had to extend support to the government from the outside. And this person, unelected, heading a minority government has really the gall to tell India that he will not re-negotiate the nuclear deal with the Americans even though the majority in Parliament has completely rejected what he has to offer. Amazing, and what an example of the Executive acquiring powers not foreseen by the writers of the Indian Constitution who clearly based the country’s Bible on the goodness of “man.”
Well, now that “man” has proved that he cannot be trusted with national security, it is time for Parliament to amend the Constitution so that all international treaties are brought to it for ratification. This must be done on an urgent basis, in this session itself so that Parliament acquires the same significance for Prime Minister Singh as the US Congress has for President George W. Bush.
What is as, if not more, disturbing, are the possible answers to the question: Prime Minister ko yeh deal itni pasand kyon hai? Why does Dr Manmohan Singh determine to push ahead with an agreement that is not acceptable to his own supporting partners in government, and to Parliament? It is clear from the devious manner in which the deal has been negotiated that Dr Singh knows it is unpopular, that he has a lot to hide, and that he is directing our government to take orders from Washington on not just what does or does not determine non proliferation, but also foreign policy, defence relations, and of course trade and business for the huge US MNCs looking for big markets in a saturated world.
India is formulating a foreign policy “congruent” with that of the US as stipulated by the overarching Hyde Act. The energy deal with Iran is now on the back burner, getting cooler by the day, as the Bush administration and the US Congressmen have made it clear that not even NSA M.K. Narayanan’s “God” can save the deal if New Delhi pursues the gas pipeline, or supports Iran at any level. Nicholas Burns has been very clear — and the Americans are far more honest and direct, speaking with the confidence of a secure nation — that he expects the government to, one, support the US policy on Iran, and two, demonstrate this again with direct support when a fresh sanctions resolution comes up for a vote. He has said that the Bush administration has been urging the Indians not to enter into any gas and energy agreements with Iran, but to take the same position as the US against Iran’s nuclear programme.
On Pakistan, NSA Narayanan has already proved his mettle by speaking in glowing terms of President Pervez Musharraf’s graceful abilities to cope with the internal crises that almost had the general imposing emergency!
The Prime Minister has decided not to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation meet, leaving it to minister Pranab Mukherjee to complete the formalities. New Delhi has been brought into a Quadrilateral brought together by the US with Australia and Japan. China issued a demarche to the four participating nations that virtually ignored the protest. The government here has put its national security at risk as a result, with the giant neighbour in a position to ensure that the present pinpricks — like claiming Tawang — actually begin to hurt. The huge naval exercises — the largest since the end of the Cold War — by the Quadrilateral and Singapore in the Bay of Bengal will definitely hit the India-China relationship further.
Nicholas Burns has made it clear that one of the strategic goals of the deal was also increased military cooperation with India — joint exercises, defence deals, etc. etc. — that is now being translated into action. The naval exercises — intercept, board, search, seize — are a precursor to India joining the Proliferation Security Initiative, another stipulation of the Hyde Act. In other words, gradually New Delhi under this government is starting to accept Washington’s definition of friends and foes, and this is being reflected in the number of high level visits, and the agreements reached and signed with other countries. Subtle but noticeable.
The majority view in this country favours trashing the deal with the US. That is the hard truth reflected in the position taken by the majority of parliamentarians who are concerned about the nation’s security, but are also responding to the pressures of the Indian constituency. Those who sit in the seats of power forget that they are accountable to the people, that they cannot act outside Parliament, and that while the executive legally has the powers to enter into international agreements without ratification by the legislature, the executive certainly cannot act with the abandon of an unaccountable power centre against the expressed wish of Parliament.
The NDA has asked for a Joint Parliament Committee to look into the agreement. It has also asked for a vote in Parliament. The UNPA has also rejected the deal, and asked for a vote in Parliament. The Left has still to determine its strategy in Parliament, but both the CPI(M) and the CPI have made it clear that the Prime Minister does not have the last word in a democracy, that the government cannot go ahead with the agreement, and that the Congress party will have to pay a very heavy political price if it does. The Prime Minister has locked eyes with the rest of the country. Let us see who blinks first.
– The Asian Age (Aug. 13, 2007)
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