This post of mine is in response to a comment posted by S. Sam Daniel, IPS to my earlier post: “Nuclear Deal: What’s in it for India’? I was about to post a reply in the comment section. But then thought of inditing about it in details. Hence this post.

    Mr. Daniel’s contention is that why we need to surrender ourselves to George Bush & US? With all due respect to his opinion, let me put forth the bigger picture.

    First, India is not going for this deal in order to become an obedient US ally. After the Pokharan II, this potential superpower and a key political power in South Asia was left out of the global nuclear commerce and plethora of impositions were inflicted by the whole world. India is desperate to break these shackles in the wake of its ever-increasing energy needs. And this Indo-US deal is the gateway to enter into global nuclear mainstream, to end the present boycott and to earn the position of a responsible nuclear player. In this context, the significance of deal cannot be lowballed.

    Secondly, what transpires between Bush & his Cabinet or Congress is of little importance in light of scope & binding nature of the 123 agreement. True, the letter leaked to Washington Post does reveal the ulterior intentions of the US regime. But we need to look at the bigger picture.

After Pokharan II, the then Vajpayee government through Brajesh Mishra had confidently announced that ‘India now has the technical know-how for conducting the nuclear tests’. If we are to believe this, and there isn’t any reason why we shouldn’t, India finds herself in no immediate need of conducting any nuclear tests. So why should we make this one issue a central point of our debate to the extent of compromising the possibility of getting the deal through. Having said that, India does not lose its sovereign right to conduct nuclear tests, if the need ever arises, even in the light of the letter leaked. It’s just that the America, in that case, may use its own sovereign right to withdraw from the deal (after a year’s notice, of course). This however, is least likely to happen. Because once we enter the global commerce of nuclear power, America & the business firms therein, cannot afford to be left out of the lucrative business opportunities in India.

    Finally, international diplomacy & politics has no place for egos or being swollen-headed. As McCain’s punch-line says…’Country First’. If the deal is in interest of the country, which is the case with impugned Indo-US deal, we need to look at the bigger picture I believe, turning a blind eye to certain hole-in-corner affairs.