Glimmer of light at end of nuke tunnel

NEW DELHI: The Left is likely to give the green signal for the government to proceed with negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for an agreement on India-specific safeguards. The concession, however, would come with a condition that the government would seek the Left's approval again before approaching the Nuclear Supplier’s Group (NSG) for clearance.

It has been reliably learnt that a compromise on the issue was reached between the UPA and the Left on Friday. The formal announcement of the agreement between the two is likely to be made in the meeting scheduled on November 16.
While this does appear to be a major step back for the Left from its earlier stance that no negotiations should take place with the IAEA, a closer look would reveal it to be far less than dropping its objections.

For the Indo-US nuclear deal to bear fruit, India must freeze the text of the needed agreements with the IAEA and the NSG, and based on this progress, the US Congress ratify the 123 Agreement negotiated between the government of India and the Bush administration.

Even if the government succeeds in reaching an agreement with the IAEA, if it is prevented from going to the NSG, the deal would still be aborted. The government would appear to have persuaded the Left that if it has not prejudged the issue while attending the joint UPA-Left meeting on the nuclear deal, it should not behave in a fashion that would leave no time for completion of the complex negotiations required with IAEA and NSG.

Supposing, hypothetically, the Left is finally convinced that the 123 agreement is indeed in India’s national interest, but that conviction comes too late in the day for ratification of the deal under president Bush, that would be a collective setback including for the Left.

So, as token of its good faith in the UPA-Left talks on the nuclear deal, the Left should allow the government to proceed with some part of operationalising the deal even as joint examination of the deal’s implications proceeds apace. At the same time, the next crucial step of approaching the NSG would still await a consensus being reached in the Left-UPA talks.

Significantly, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat has toned down the hostility quotient in his most recent pronouncements on the UPA government, made in Kolkata. Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger met West Bengal chief minister and CPI(M) leader Buddhadeb Dasgupta in a closed door meeting that lasted 50 minutes. Mr Kissinger has been vocally backing the deal and urging all Indian political factions to support the 123 agreement.