Indo-US nuclear deal and the ugly Indian politics

They say politics is an ugly game. And the current events in Indian politics are good examples to prove it. The controversial Indo-US nuclear deal has exposed the ugly part of Indian politics. First let’s have an overview as to what exactly is Indo-US the nuclear deal and the controversy surrounding it.

The Indo-US nuclear deal is an agreement between the two countries which has lots of ‘Dos and ‘Don’ts for each other with more number of ‘Don’ts for India. I think you might have understood by now that with this deal US has forced many restrictions on India. The deal is a document with many pages in it, so it’s difficult to describe it in a blog post. But in short, it is an agreement under which, US will supply nuclear fuel to India, which can be used by India for producing electrical energy (as its demand is increasing). But US is not giving away the fuel just like that. It is making sure that India doesn’t use it for making nuclear weapons. As per the agreement India cannot produce or test a nuclear weapon as it did in the famous Pokhran nuclear test. This is what exactly the deal is in short.

Now coming to the Indian politics, the political parties have different opinions about the deal. The Congress party and the other UPA allies (except Left) which are part of the government are supporting the nuclear deal. The BJP and its allies are partially supporting the nuclear deal. But here comes the big problem. The left parties (communist parties CPI, CPM) who are always against the US are in no mood to support the deal. They feel India is compromising its National Security by going with this deal. Whereas Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh is very desperate about signing the nuclear deal. Now, as the government is depending on the left parties for staying in power, the left parties are threatening to withdraw support in the parliament which will result in departure of the UPA government if the government goes ahead with the deal. In such critical situations, the Samajwadi party from Uttar Pradesh is offering the much needed support to the government.

From the above lines the Indian politics in this topic atleast seems to be very neat and clean. But this is why it isn’t so. The Samajwadi party (SP) which is trying to be a friend with Congress now, was its biggest critic jus few days back. Both the parties leaved no stone unturned to blame each other on various issues both state level and the national level. They did the same in the last elections in Uttar Pradesh, resulting in the victory of a third party BSP lead by Mayawati. The Bachans who are a family to the SP leader Amar Singh were always targeted by the central government lead by Congress. The finance ministry was always behind Big B and his wife serving one notice or another. Then Amar Singh used to spell fire for Mrs. Gandhi and Congress Party. He always had harsh words for the Congress party attacking Mrs. Gandhi personally and so did the latter for him. In short they were bitter rivals few days back. But now, they are pretending to be “BEST FRIENDS”. Nobody who follows Indian politics had ever thought even in their dream that this would happen. Again this isn’t new. They did it last time in 1999 and again parted ways. This is how ugly Indian politics is. Amar Singh who once had a problem with the Indian citizenship of the Italy born Mrs.Gandhi, is now very happy helping her party pass the nuclear deal. He is now very much comfortable with his new friends. And coming to the Left and Congress who were “BEST FRIENDS” just few days back, are now suddenly finding many defects in each other. This is just an instance showing how things can change in Indian politics overnight. Now why shouldn’t I call it ugly, Hmmm?