news details |
|
|
| Delhi-Washington consultations intensify | | Indo-nuclear deal shouldn't be a casualty | |
NEW DELHI:
Could the Indo-US nuclear deal become a casualty of the "thumping" defeat of the Republicans in the US Congressional elections? No, says George W. Bush, President of the United States. No, says Richard Boucher, Assistant Under Secretary of State, in Delhi for urgent damage control under the garb of fine-tuning the agreement.
No, says the US envoy to India, who can sense Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's rising disquiet as Bush's promises run aground in a welter of rash promises; one in particular, that he was "trying" to get the deal passed was issued hours after an angry electorate voted against the Republicans in the most decisive midterm elections held in that country since the Vietnam war.
The specific impact is no secret. Any delay to the civilian nuclear agreement is a blow towards the anointment of India as a de jure nuclear power. But on the larger canvas, Washington's twin track South Asia policy to counter China's calculated march to parley economic power into political clout in India's immediate backyard while ensuring the deteriorating situation on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border does not impact on terror worldwide, is still in a muddled state of play.
Shyam Saran, India's special envoy on the nuke deal, is anything but sanguine. With elections looming, there was a calculated move to clinch bi-partisan backing. Despite lukewarm support from Senators Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy, and stringent criticism from nuclear non-proliferation lobbyist Congressman Ed Markey, Indian-American pressure groups like the "Coalition for Partnership with India" are reportedly confident they can get Democrats to commit to a long-term partnership.
Manmohan Singh and Shyam Saran can take comfort that three powerful Democrats have given their nod. The first, Senator Joseph Biden, head of a bi-partisan committee on nuclear non-proliferation who backs India, will be chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the new Congress. Committed to a lesser degree is Tom Lantos, incoming chairman of the House of Representatives International Relations Committee who oversaw the passage of the Bill in the House. The third, Harry Reid wants the deal tabled and voted on quickly. He takes over as head of the Senate.
In principle, therefore, the Democrats want to put the India-specific nuke legislation on the table. But the deal still needs a full vote on the floor of the Senate, followed by a reconciliation of the Bill voted on by the House to bring it in line with the expected Senate version and, finally, a vote on the final document by both Houses to amend Section 123 in the Atomic Energy Act in India's favour. If it fails to make the grade at any one of these steps, it will be presented afresh to new Congressional Committees.
Not only does that open up the possibility of a delay until after January 2007, it also leaves it wide open to amendments that many Democrats believe are necessary to put tighter controls on India's civilian and military nuclear programme. And Manmohan Singh has publicly told Parliament he is unwilling to re-negotiate. Privately, he has reconciled himself to a possible demise of the deal with Bush, and a pragmatic re-opening of a new chapter post-Bush. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
