The opposition to the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal has seen a strange confluence of ideology. The communist parties are opposed to it, as indeed is the Bharatiya Janata Party. And there seems to be a growing clamour against the “secular” Left being seen to be voting with the “communal” Right.
M.J. Akbar punctures the argument in the Khaleej Times:
“The Congress has a very convenient memory. The last time that a government was defeated on the floor of the House, the Congress and the BJP voted together — to bring down the V.P. Singh government. Did that make Congress, and Rajiv Gandhi, who was leader of the party then, communal?
“During the term of the V.P. Singh government the Marxists and the BJP were allies, supporting Singh. They had weekly dinners, from which Harkishen Surjeet and L.K. Advani would emerge, smiling and laughing for the cameras. Did that make Surjeet communal?”
Read the full column: How public is public opinion?
Terming the nuke deal as “anti Muslim” makes the left parties communal (were they ever secular?).
And for whole lot of other reasons, they are anti-national.
Writing about secularism in Khaleej times for middle east readers..should be the biggest joke!
Hiker
There is a theory floating that muslims are anti nuke deal, yet congress is going ahead with the deal. Which means congress doesn’t really care about Muslims votes, they are worried about the nation. So this myth that congress is into minority appeasement is once and for all busted.
Look at some facts about the nuclear deal:
A Bharat Ratna awardee, a staunch nationalist, the father of nuclearisation of India, Mr. Abdul Kalam supports the nuclear deal
THe chief of Atomic Energy supports the nuclear deal
The G8 countries support the nuclear deal (france, germany, russia, UK, Italy, Japan, Canada)
Educated Indians support the deal.
Top nuclear scientists in India support the deal.
Barack Obama the democratic presidential candidate supports the deal.
Even China supports the deal.
Barring the left, the other two entities which oppose the deal are Pakistan. And BJP.
Shouldn’t BJP be on the side of India, rather than Pakistan?
Dr Abdul Kalam supports the nuclear deal okay, but the draft was made public only a few days back,When did Dr. kalam read the draft.
Why does the Govt think that it is smarter than the general public, why was not the draft made public?
I do not trust this Govt.
Question….are you the new avatar of WrongFact????
@Question
“Even China supports the deal”
There is no need for our fatherland to oppose this deal. We are doing a fine job.
In an unrelated development, Arts & Letters Daily quips that “a slime mold seen under a microscope can be an object of beauty – in the eye of the scientist.”
Chintaka
Forget my avatar, talk about issues.
Nilesh
Abdul Kalam is a seasoned nuclear expert. He has been president of india for five years. He is a bharat ratna awardee. His stature is equal to Bhabaji. You think he won’t understand the intricacies involved in the deal?
I am sure he would not have lent his support to the deal without understanding the pros and cons of the IAEA deal in entiriety.
From day one he has repeatedly said it is in India’s interest to go for the deal. Remember Kalam was NDA’s candidate, UPA opposed him for presidentship, yet Kalam is supporting UPA’s nuclear deal efforts.
That is teh greatness of the person who is above silly politics the kind actively being played by BJP.
P. Carrot
i said china supports the deal as a dig against left parties….when even the fountainhead of communism can support the deal, what is the problem of the indian left?
none of you are supporting UPAs efforts to get India the historic deal. india has arrived on the nuclear stage. The developed world wants to welcome us to the nuclear arena..nothing can stop that now. certainly not the left. or the bjp.
***
By the way, add one more person to the pro nuke deal supporters: Brajesh Mishra, right hand man of former prime minister Vajpayee. and ex. national security advisor.
Question to be asked is, if UPA is discovering at the last minute the virtues of APJ Kalam, they why did they not offer him the presidency for the second term??
The greatness of Sri Kalam lies in the fact that despite what nasty things UPA did to him, he is still supporting the deal.
Politics is not often in black and white.
For instance consider this. Talk to any Indian, forget him being an eminent scientist, I am talking about an ordinary Indian. Ask him whether the Golden Quadrilateral project that was initiated by the BJP govt was good or bad for the country. You will get an unanimous and resounding positive answer that it was one of the best things to have happened to this country. But look at what is happening to that project today. It is moving at such a slow pace that you can almost write it off. The question to be asked is ” Why is the CONgie government going slow on this?”. The answer is also quite simple. It is because this was a project initiated by BJP. The merits of the project became secondary in the political game of oneupmanship.
So why should BJP bail the govt out now????
BJP, if they come to power on their own with enough numbers, will still push for the deal. They do not want offer support on a platter to CONgress. Simple.
*Question*
Now we know you read Amar Singh’s interview in Tehelka!! :P
Chintaka
Think before you speak else it will bommerang on you.
You said, ” Why is the CONgie government going slow on the golden quardilateral project?”. The answer is also quite simple. It is because this was a project initiated by BJP. The merits of the project became secondary in the political game of oneupmanship.”
This is how your own words recoil on you:
Did you forget that it was the BJP which started the nuclear deal with America. Did not Congress pursue it strongly? Although it was BJPs baby, did not Congress pursue it strongly?
Think Chintaka Think.
By repeatedly referring to Congress as CONgress, you are like a horse wtih blinkers….you cannot see the achievements of congress, neither can you see the dirty politics of BJP. Sad.
Question….you still have not answered whether you are the “new & improved (????) version of WrongFact….tone of your messages suggests very strongly to that possibility… let me leave it aside now for the time being…..
Like I said, Politics is not merely black and white. There are lots of shades of grey in between.
We do not really know how the treaty would have shaped up if it had been done under the BJP led government. Right? So what is the point in howling that BJP started this and therefore they should support this?? For all practical purposes, BJP might not like the deal in its present form. Why should someone be forced to vote for the deal just to save a government???
Also consider this. In the last 4 odd years of CONgress rule, this party never behaved in a civilised manner with BJP. So much so that its spokespersons Kabil Sibal and Manu Singhvi rubbished BJP’s demand of celebrating the tenth of anniversay of Agni 2. Given this state of affairs, pray tell me, why should BJP support the government???
Remember one more thing, this government has never really asked BJP to support its stand on the deal. There is simply no communication from the ruling party on this matter. On the other hand, the friends of the ruling party tom tom to the whole world that BJP is dangerous than Bush. And you expect BJP to support this stupid government???
Can you give one single, valid, rational reason as to why the golden quadrilateral project is put on the slow track, inspite of the tremondous benefit it offers to the crores and crores of people of this country??? And what moral ground does this government has in asking for support?
Wikipedia on Prakash Karat –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prakash_Karat
“He has been nominated for the Red Panda, which is the second highest civil award in China, for his achievement in puncturing the Indo-US nuclear deal that was threatening Chinese hegemony”
Chintaka
You ask a rather laugable question: Why should BJP support Congress, just to save the govt.? It is not about saving the Congress govt. It is about saving the future of Indians. Today, the nuclear world is acknolwledging India as one of them. Here is a golden chance for us to open our doors of trade with the nuclear world. Here is a chance for us to make HISTORY. Just because you feel (its your perception) congress is slow on golden quadrilateral project, that does not give the right to BJP to embarrass India and put the future of our country in grave risk by supporting Pakistan.
Tomorrow if there is a war with Pakistan, are you telling me BJP will rather support Pak than an INdian govt, just because this Indian govt. has not taken the golden quadrilateral project forward? What a convoluted logic!
This is so typical of you? All your comments point to two things: In your earlier blogs you supported LTTE militants over our then Indian PM. Now you and your party seem to be on the side of Pakistan (which is happy that the nuclear deal is being aborted). Typically anti national anti democray and anti constitutional. and you take the fig leaf of a cover of golden quadrilateral project!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Shame !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You cannot compare oranges with onions. Golden quadrilateral is internal, nuclear deal has international ramifications. In any case nuclear deal is almost aborted, while golden quadrilateral is still on, never mind the pace.
While on the topic of not following previous govt. schemes, do you know Yeddiyurappa has said Belgaum will not be the second capital of karnataka? An inititative taken by JDs chief minister, now BSY says Belgaum is not going to be the second state capital. here was a historic decision taken by JDS to make Belgaumites feel proud of being a part of Karnataka, especially when Maharashtra is laying claim to it. This move was a masterstroke from JDS. yet BSY is undoing the revolutionary work and dragging Karnataka back into a mess. Perhaps he wants to make Bellary the second capital under the influence of the mining lobby.
You say congress has not behaved in a civilized manner? hahaha…do u know this parliament has had the max. walk outs ever? parliament was brought to a stand still for a record (unprecedented) number of hours by the opposition, just to score cheap political points!!!!!!! do we send parliamentarians to stage walk outs or to carry on discussion in a mature and meaninful way>?
Check today’s paper. Congress has supported the bill presented by Vasundhara Raje’s govt. on reservatioons. Congress could have easilyopposed the bill, just like BJP is opposing the nuclear deal. This clearly shows BJP is just thinking about itself not about the nation.
India has arrived. No force in the world can stop India from gaining a foothold in the nuclear arena. Histoory wil not forgive the parties which oppose the deal.
Hey Question… good to see an old comrade in a new name…. the old name sort of pricked you badly, eh???
As usual, you are getting it all mixed up…. no one is saying that BJP is anti Indian. And it cannot be deduced that by opposing the nuclear deal in its present form it is being anti indian.
Remember Newton’s third law?? When CONgies are stupid enough to stop something which was started by BJP, no matter how much ever the benefit of that project, when it is pay back time, CONgies will get it.
For four years, they had an unholy matrimony with the left parties. For four years, these people had good fun at the cost of the nation. For four years, they did enough things to screw up the good work done by the past government. And for four years, BJP was lika a paraiah to this government. Now suddenly, when they got the divorce from the unholy matrimony, CONgies are whining that the deal is good for the country and hence everyone should support it. Like hell.
Today there was a news in which a US senator was quoted as saying that it is too late for the deal to pass through in the BUSH regime. Assuming this is true, why cant the CONgies too wait for a few months and wait for the general election?? If they get an absolute majority, they will have all the numbers they want to pass this deal.
But as I was saying earlier, the facts you are quoting are all wrong. This nuclear deal is a face saving means for CONgress. Not for nothing I call them CONgress. They have been conning the country for the past so many years and they continue to do so. They somehow wanted to exit in a fashion which will fetch them votes in the next election. Inflation was killing them. There were no other issues to bank upon. They knew the resistance of the left parties to the deal all through. So why not let the government fall and create a sympathy wave?? I mean, there are still a lot of suckers to accept this kind of machinations from the grand old conning party. Right???
Question, now you are making me laugh. You mean to say any party in India today can oppose reservation policy and survive???? Dreaming or what??? Congress in this instance had no option but to support the policy. Come on, dont be so naive.
And regarding the BSY’s decision of not making Belgaum as the second capital etc., that is for my next posting.
I never supported LTTE, that is your preposterous assumption. Like all the things you assume about CONgies and the ilk, here too you are wrong. You were trying to portray this chap as a martyr. All that I said was he was no martyr, he got bumped off because he tried to meddle into someone else’s affairs. Like you cannot separate the right facts from the wrong, here too you are assuming things…
Welcome back WrongFact!!!!
Chintaka (A rare mix of Communist and Communalist)
The communists and the communalists are joining hands to betray the people of India by defeating the nuclear deal.
If cong took 60 years to screw the nation, BJP took just 6 years to do it.
There was not a single achievement worth its credit. Everything was bought in by Congress – just spoilt rotten by BJP during its 6 years, no wonder it got the sack!
When BJP was in power, why did it not celebrate 25 years of Indira Gandhi conducting the nuclear test? This was a cheap way to get back and congress…by usurping a Congress idea. Tell me. answer me. Here Congress made India proud with its nuclear blast in the seventies..and 25 years later, when Vajpayee was the PM, they conveniently forgot to CELEBRATE it. SHAME! and here you talk about celebrating a mere 10 years of Pokhran blast. Twenty five years is silver jubilee and a greater reason to celebrate.. yet, BJP looked the other way.
Every grand idea of Congress was spoilt silly by BJP in its six years. Eery grand idea of Congress was usurped by BJP….from nuclear testing to economic liberalisation. IT was the congress which should get the credit. and BJP came in and spoilt it both – nuclear testing gave made us a nuclear aparthied in the world ……which Congress has worked hard for 4 years to undo the damage..and now….you say its a face saving device.
Dude, wake up, smell the coffee, hardly 1% of india understands the nuclear deal. It won’t fetch them 10 votes at the box office. On principle, cong believes nation comes first, votes, thereafter. But a bitter BJP beleives votes come first..and nation never comes in teh picture.
Why should Congress wait for few more months until the next govt in USA is sworn in? what do you mean, what’s the hurry?
yes, man there is a massive urgency to take corrective steps! As it is we are facing high oil prices and severe energy shortage in India…the faster things move, the better for India. Politicians are notorious for a lazy laidback style. Infrastructure projects take years to be delivered. Everything moves in slow motion in India. you need a govt, which acts and thinks fast. See what happened in the railways? Laloo started showing profits in the very second year, just after Vajpayee govt. was voted out. that’s the power of quick work! we need fast efficient politicians not lazy lollygags!
On one hand you accuse govt. of going TOO SLOW on the golden quadrilateral project, on the other hand, you accuse govt of going TOO FAST on the nuclear deal. Deeply contradictory?
Damned if you do. Damned if you don’t. You keep finding faults with congress for everything.
Of course you said Rajiv gandhi got what he deserved. That DIRECTLY means LTTE did the right thing to kill him……..isn’t it? such a shame isn’t it? you say foreign terrorists did the right thing to kill and Indian PM?
All your comments seem to be coming from the mind of a pakistani or a sri lankan citizen.
By opposing the nuclear deal the COMMUNISTS and the COMMUNALISTS get the dubious distinction of dragging India back to the 18th century. Congress tries to take india to the 22nd century, and here your party is bent on taking us two centuries back. So typical . Spoiling everyhing that Congress has worked hard for.
In case, Congress loses the trust vote, this should be their selling line
Cong sacrificied power for the sake of principles
BJP sacrificied principles for the sake of power.
For those who couldn’t get it , here is the explanation:
Cong sacrificed power for the sake of a principle called nuclear deal
BJP sacrificied a principle called Ram mandir for the sake of power.
Here is an extract from latest outlook magazine with Obama on cover:
The BJP has not displayed any generosity of spirit or even intellectual clarity over the N-deal. The BJP has just been bloody-minded and cussed in opposing it when every strategic thinker knows the party would have signed such a deal in a heartbeat if it was on offer during the years when the NDA was in power.
The BJP’s pursuit of friendship with the US is well-chronicled; during his tenure as foreign minister Jaswant Singh spent months pursuing a special relationship with the Americans.
But instead of supporting an India-US embrace, the BJP has virtually stood on its head, done a cartwheel and several somersaults ever since the nuclear deal was placed on the table two years ago.
Advani preferred to avoid all controversial stands to ensure his nomination as the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate. What is revealing, however, is his remark to journalists that “we would’ve supported the deal, but we were never consulted.”
Ideally, an opposition leader should have acted on the basis of national interest and not a bruised ego. But then this is the level at which all debates in Indian democracy are now conducted.