The New York Times (in a recent editorial) criticizes the India-US Nuclear agreement as too generous and a give away of the the store to India. Of course, this is exactly the opposite of the objections raised by the Communists and the Bharatiya Janata Party in India — their objections are that the Nuclear agreement potentially impinges upon India’s sovereignty and restricts India’s future options.
The agreement cannot be placed, if at all, before the U.S. Congress for its consideration and approval before the November elections when the Democratic party is likely to add to its majority in both the Houses of Congress, and may even capture the White House. The Democratic party leaders — Joe Biden, Barack Obama — have expressed serious reservations about the agreement.
Given all these facts, and the fact that President Bush’s (the champion of the agreement) approval ratings are likely to be hovering in the low 30s, the chances of the agreement being approved by the U.S. Congress is diminishing rapidly.
In the meantime, Lal Krishna Advani is asking for a quick (short) parliamentary session of the Indian parliament houses (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha) where the nuclear agreement can be debated and voted either up or down. Congress party and its governing allies are averse to this.
If the Congress party, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were willing to sacrifice power for the consummation of the nuclear agreement (and that is quite noble, indeed), how one wishes the party had moved ahead at least 3-4 months back!
Tags: 123 agreement, Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress party, India-US Nuclear agreement, Lok Sabha, Manmohan Singh, Rajya Sabha, Sonia Gandhi
July 7, 2008 at 2:01 am |
[...] was nearing impossibility for Congress to approve of it. The New York Times, normally pro-Indian, has criticized the deal as being excessively [...]