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Bush Visit to India:HIGH Roadblock IN NUCLEAR DEAL, by Dr. Chintamani Mahapatra,21 February 2006 Print E-mail

ROUND THE WORLD

New Delhi, 21 February 2006

Bush Visit to India

HIGH Roadblock IN NUCLEAR DEAL

By Dr. Chintamani Mahapatra

School of International Studies, JNU

About six years ago, Indians were excited by an American Presidential visit to India during the national festival of Holi. Two weeks before the 2006 Holi, another American President scheduled to visit India. But this time around there is hardly any enthusiasm in India. To the contrary, there are hopes in the Government circle that this visit would pass off peacefully with accompanying preparations by some political parties, particularly the Left, that the US President should realize that everybody in India does not welcome him.

When an Indian Prime Minister visits the United States, the Indian Embassy remains on its toes to ensure that the trip is adequately covered by the local media and it remains an officially satisfying event for the Indian foreign policy establishment. The US Embassy perhaps has similar expectations. No government wants that a visiting head of a state is not received well by the people and the political parties. Likewise, no political leader desires that his foreign trip turns out to be damp squib.

Unless adequate care is taken, the incoming visit of the US President, George Bush may generate disappointment for both the PMO and the White House. First of all, American Ambassador in Delhi has surrounded himself with lot of controversies. His statement on the possible impact of the Indian vote at the IAEA over Iran nuclear issue on the US Congress was interpreted by the Left parties and others as coercive diplomacy. Mulford is not a career diplomat. There was an element of truth in his statement. But some sections of people in India sought to make a mountain of the molehill. His letter to the West Bengal Chief Minister protesting against inappropriate remarks on President Bush and its political and economic repercussions again appears to be a blunt warning, but the Left parties have taken strong objection by alleging that it was interference in the country’s internal affairs.

The American Ambassador should have taken the remarks on President Bush as an unfortunate aspect of freedom of speech. After all, many in the US consider the regrettable representation of the Muslim Prophet in cartoon by a Danish cartoonist as part of the freedom of speech. Simultaneously the CPM also has been over-reacting to the letter from the US Ambassador to the West Bengal Chief Minister. If the alleged remark against President Bush is correct, the CPM is not right in considering it as a mere internal affair of West Bengal.

The second crucial issue that appears to have already dampened the spirit in India over a second US Presidential visit to India in six years is the ravaging controversy over the July 2005 nuclear understanding between the two countries over forging cooperation in civilian nuclear technology. Some independent analysts, scholars and even a few former diplomats have serious reservations over the Indo-US nuclear deal. The deal is opposed by these people on the ground that it would enhance American leverage over Indian nuclear programme, both civilian and military, would negatively affect the country’s nuclear strategy, and would force India to compromise its autonomous foreign policy decision-making.

There was a high dose of optimism and confidence in the governing circles of India and the US that the nuclear agreement between the two would be ready for signature by the time President Bush lands in Delhi. But that optimism has been replaced by certain amount of anxiety and despair, as the Indian side has begun to perceive that Washington is intermittently shifting its goalpost by demanding newer items of compliance by the Indian Government. The visa difficulty encountered by Placid Rodriguez, one of the chief architects of India’s nuclear fast breeder programme, to address a conference in the US is an indication that the nuclear deal itself has run into high roadblocks.

Ambassador Robert Blackwill, predecessor of Ambassador Mulford, often proudly proclaimed that the number of visas issued to Indian academics and students outnumbered the total number of visas issued to the rest of the world. Now an Indian scientist of a high repute is finding it difficult to attend a conference in the US, even though he has received an invitation from an American organization. The timing of a letter by three prominent nuclear non-proliferation specialists to US legislators demanding more strict conditions on India over the nuclear deal is an addition to the list of expanding discontents.

It is true that Indo-US relations are not based on any single issue. The relationship has been robust in several other areas and there is not much reflection of those in the media. It is quite likely that the Indian Government will take proper care to highlight the positive aspects of the relationship and will prevent creation of a one-sided image of Indo-US relations. So much time, energy and resources have been invested by the US and India to elevate the bilateral relationship to unprecedented levels that neither side can afford to let the critiques paint a picture of their choice.

Critiques are important to remind those aspects of bilateral issues, which could have been ordinarily ignored. They are an important part of any decision-making. But democracies need to separate the self-serving critiques from the more genuine ones. While India has to ensure that its relations with the US do not bind India’s foreign policy and strategic decisions, the Indian leadership should avoid creating an impression that Indians are too difficult a people to befriend. The two countries which will certainly be jubilant to see gaps in emerging Indo-US ties are Pakistan and China. These two countries alone should not be allowed to determine India’s choice, but New Delhi will find it an expensive phenomenon not to factor these two countries in its calculations.

The UPA Government has successfully dealt with the offensive by the Left parties. In their enthusiasm to complain against the American hegemony, the left analysts almost leaned towards Iranian theocracy. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh answered the queries over the Iran nuclear issue in both the Houses of Parliament without mentioning a word about the US!

It is clear that some parties are making a football of foreign policy issues on domestic political considerations. India at the current stage of its development cannot afford to allow that yet. We are an emerging power. We are yet to emerge as a power. It is important that we do not sacrifice our national interests at the altar of domestic expediency. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)

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