Indian Party Not Ready to Sacrifice Power for Nuclear Deal

By Elaine M. Grossman
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — The Indian prime minister and his party would opt to stay in power rather than fracture their ruling coalition over a controversial nuclear energy agreement with the United States, a key party official said this week (see GSN, April 1).

“There cannot be a deal without a government,” Abhishek Manu Singhvi, a member of the Indian Parliament and the Congress party’s chief spokesman, said during a Washington appearance.

Singhvi was discussing a trade pact announced by U.S. President George W. Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2005. 

The deal would allow New Delhi to buy nuclear materials and technology from the United States in exchange for placing its civilian nuclear activities under international supervision.  However, implementation has been stalled by leftist supporters of Singh’s government who have threatened to force new elections if the prime minister moves forward.  Communist lawmakers have asserted that the terms of the deal would infringe on the South Asian nation’s sovereignty.

“We are prepared to stake a lot of things for the deal and then, to put it bluntly, maybe we would even stake the continuance or the survival of the government on a matter of principle,” Singhvi said Tuesday at the Heritage Foundation.

However, “when the sacrifice of a government doesn’t get you the deal, then you are in fact inviting death without martyrdom,” he said.  “So why have death if you don’t even have martyrdom?”

Singh’s government has reached a tentative agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency on provisions for monitoring its civil nuclear facilities.  If the trade agreement is to go forward, the IAEA arrangement must be followed by action at the international Nuclear Suppliers Group to lift a ban on the sale of atomic material to New Delhi.  Approval by the U.S. Congress would be a final hurdle.

It does not appear, though, that India’s ruling party would continue to push for the agreement if it meant being forced from power.

Singhvi spent most of his presentation this week touting the agreement.  He argued that the pact would bolster his nation’s growing demand for electricity as its economy expands.

Yet, it is “important in a democracy with a coalition to carry all our constituent partners with us,” Singhvi said.  “We want the deal but ultimately it has to come out of consensus.”

Even if the Indian prime minister could resolve domestic political resistance to the accord, obstacles would remain on the international level, according to one critic.

“Thankfully, the deal may be doomed by internal strife within the coalition,” Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, said last week.  However, he said, “the deal is still going to face, I think, principled and stiff opposition from key states in the Nuclear Suppliers Group.”

Kimball spoke at an April 8 panel discussion sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute. 

Singhvi has not concluded, though, that the deal is dead.

“We have not given up,” he said.  “We do not accept this as the end of the road.”

The lawmaker estimated that his party has roughly 10 to 12 months to win the acceptance of its partners in the Indian parliament.  That timing might not allow final approval of the deal in the U.S. Congress before Bush leaves office in January, Singhvi acknowledged. 

There is some doubt in Washington that a Democratic administration would continue work on the pact (see GSN, April 4).

Even if the nuclear agreement fails, the United States and India will continue to have a strong and multifaceted relationship, Singhvi said.

“The intersections are really manifold” between the two nations — to include cooperation in developing business, exploring space and fighting terrorism — and will persist no matter what happens with the deal, he said.

For its part, the White House yesterday reaffirmed its commitment to the nuclear trade accord, the Indo-Asian News Service reported (see GSN, April 11).

“We're still working on it and are very committed to it,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

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