Left playing Chinas game in seeking to dump US-India nuke pact: Experts

There is a growing consensus among strategic experts in India and the United States that the Left is pushing India towards playing a secondary role to China by insisting that the Manmohan Singh-led UPA not seek International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) approvals for the July 18, 2005 US-India civil nuclear cooperation pact.

New Delhi, Aug.21 : There is a growing consensus among strategic experts in India and the United States that the Left is pushing India towards playing a secondary role to China by insisting that the Manmohan Singh-led UPA not seek International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) approvals for the July 18, 2005 US-India civil nuclear cooperation pact.

Former diplomat and a key member of the task force on India's nuclear posture, Arundhati Ghose says that China will be convinced of its superiority status if further negotiations related to the crucial deal are suspended.

"The Left would have got what it wanted. India-US relations may continue. What bothers me is that the sanctions will continue (too). Our search for high technology for our knowledge-based economy will be affected. We have already suffered for 30 years," Ghose is quoted as saying by two dailies.

Defending the need for such a deal, she further goes on to say that if it is passed and approved, other countries in South East Asia, Europe and Japan would have the confidence to come forward to "cooperate" with India in the near future.

K. Subrahmanyan, another expert, says that not going through with the deal; could place India in "technological isolation".

"Some ideologues would prefer a China-dominated Asia, with India playing a docile secondary role to China. An overwhelming majority of Indians will not accept such a future," he cautions.

C. Uday Bhaskar, former Director of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Analyses (IDSA) believes that there is a "deliberate attempt to distort the contours of the nuclear debate by altering the whole premise."

"Nuclear testing cannot be the sole determinant. The deal signals the arrival of India in the global grid of relevant powers," he adds, and warns that not going ahead with its signing, could end India's chances of ever reaching another deal of such importance in the future.

South Asian analysts in the US view the Left stance as being extremely cynical, and add that the latter's objections smack of narrow political considerations, rather than national interests.

"Parties opposing the deal are placing their political interests over national interests," claimed A.K. Mago of the US-India Political Action Forum.

Teresita Schaffer, Director at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, believes that the present standoff "tells you more about Indian politics than it does about the nuclear agreement. Singh is strong on policy, but weak on politics, and hence vulnerable to demagoguery from the Left."

Sumit Ganguly, a political scientist at Indian University, Bloomington, criticises the Left's intransigence over the deal by saying: "They have conjured up various bogeymen about a putative loss of strategic autonomy, even as they genuflect before their Chinese ideological masters."

B. Raman, former Additional Secretary in the Cabinet Secretariat and Director, Institute for Topical Studies, Chennai, strongly believes that the Left's opposition to the US-India nuke deal is "driven by China's concerns."

It would be better if our Communist leaders stop pretending to be worried about India's sovereign rights. The Left's campaign against India's relations with the U.S. could reflect more China's concerns and interests than those of India," Raman writes in an op-ed article for the Hindustan Times.

Though he advocates the need for going slow on the development of US-India strategic ties, Raman also says, "We should not let the Left dictate our foreign policy and push it in a direction that favours China."

The above comments assume importance, as there is now talk of a mid-term poll-taking place, or of the present government being reduced to a minority should the Left withdraw the outside support of its 60-odd Members of Parliament.

The Left parties have reiterated that the Government can hold talks with the IAEA only at its own peril.

The editorials and experts comments are unanimously of the view that the nuclear pact will win India global friends, and add that the Government has skilfully accommodated the concerns of the Left so far, and may not want to bend further.

"Aborting it (the nuclear deal), would reduce Indian competitiveness in high tech areas, and potentially nuke India's hopes of turning itself into a knowledge economy," most Indian papers say.

"Isolating India from the world may very well be the Left's ideal, but then it out to be upfront about this, and proclaim that the social model it has in mind for this country is Myanmar," the Times of India concludes in its editorial.

ANI