If India’s politicians cannot find a way to say yes to “such a clearly advantageous agreement with a natural ally” (the nuclear deal with the US), the next US administration no doubt will think twice before trying anything like it, said the Washington Post in an editorial yeserday. Excerpts:
The Bush administration seeks a “strategic partnership” with India the heart of which is a far-reaching nuclear cooperation agreement. It would permit a resumption of US sales of nuclear fuel and technology to India for nonmilitary uses, despite India’s development of nuclear weapons outside the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Why, then, is India balking at the deal, the final contours of which were settled almost a year ago? If anything, the accord is stacked in India’s favor. It allows India not only to buy uranium and nuclear reactors from the United States but also to reprocess spent atomic fuel at a new facility, under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) supervision to prevent its diversion into weapons programs. The United States committed itself to helping India accumulate a nuclear fuel stockpile, thus insulating New Delhi against a US law that provides for a supply cutoff in the event that India conducts a nuclear test. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, understanding both the boost in international prestige the arrangement would give India and the reduction in carbon emissions that his country could achieve from using more nuclear energy, has all but staked his government on implementation.
The problem is that India’s old-style domestic politics lags behind its new international opportunities. Mr. Singh’s own Congress Party is not firmly united behind the nuclear deal, and his junior coalition partner, the Communists, are dead-set against it — because they see it as a sellout of the country’s traditionally independent foreign policy. Mr. Singh’s party and the Communists are scheduled to meet again for one last round of negotiation. Prospects for agreement are bleak.
