By NM Sampathkumar
It was indeed a global tragedy that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s bold initiative to put India’s nuclear power sector on the fast track by re-securing global cooperation should have landed his government in a crisis. The US-India nuclear cooperation deal negotiated by his government encountered strident monition on the eve of the Hiroshima Day. That too from outfits supposed to be “revolutionary humanist”. The “left” parties of India termed the 1-2-3 technical pact as a “national tragedy”. Their theoreticians warned of “heavy political price” if Singh dares operationalise the deal.
Singh is being arraigned for agreeing to compromise strategic interests of India in return for marginal benefits that will accrue to it by ending its tragic isolation technologically. His coalition government, as it does not command Parliament majority, will fall apart without “outside support” from this grouping. The alliance of ultra-nationalist parties that his government has dethroned will sweep back to power. The comrades are thus in a position, even while not being part of the coalition, to dictate terms to the ruling dispensation and force it to toe their line. This tactic has significantly slowed down the progression of economic reforms in several sectors.
Ironically, the nuclear cooperation agreement was wrapped up after over two years of painstaking negotiations between the US and Indian governments. The half a dozen outfits, each under the control of a junta that had splintered from the Communist movement in past power struggles, are banded together under the Left Front banner. They were in constant touch with the government during negotiations but had chosen not to resist the deal. Asked to comment on their sudden opposition to the deal, Prime Minister Singh told a newspaper. “I don’t know — they seem to have a problem with the US.”
Indulging in vocal opposition to ties with the US is looked upon by the Reds as a surefire way to garner the votes of Muslims, who perceive – arguably justifiably – several US policy decisions being unfair to them as a community. Exploiting the anti-US sentiments, whipped up by interested elements, has consistently paid rich electoral dividends to several practitioners in the business of democracy thriving in India. The left front’s presence is currently confined to just two States, contributing less than 10 per cent of India’s economy. It looks at extending influence across India in the forthcoming elections.
Strange bedfellows
Unsafeguarded nuclear technology may well end up in the development of smart N-bombs for using on “terrorist” minorities within the country!
Intriguingly, the Left Front has strange bedfellows in decrying closer ties with US—None else than the far-right advocates of a return to Vedic era, dreaming of an akhand Hindu Rashtra dominating the region. The status of nuclear-armed superpower is considered essential to claim obeisance from the small countries of the region. Fanatic sects like Bhartiya Janta and Shiv Sena comprise of confused anti-Semitists who openly worship Adolf Hitler. Subscribing to the theory of a master Aryan race, destined to rule the world, this school claims common ancestry of India’s Brahmins and the Nordic Nazis. Nevertheless, the zealots glorify Israel just because Muslims – supposed enemies of Hinduism – consider it enemy!Left Front politicians have other co-travelers too in the bizarre power game, played in the guise of anti-imperialism.
The Indo-US deal provides for safeguards and international inspections, intended to forestall any diversion for proliferation of WMDs of the technology, equipment and fuel to be obtained for power production. This will open up the establishment, shady and secretive so far, to public scrutiny. Several politicians, so-called scientists, foreign affairs hawks and power brokers are not quite comfortable with this prospect of public scrutiny. The tribe of strategic affairs pundits, unable to come out of a cold war time warp, have been the worst villains responsible for preventing India globalising as fast as Russia or China. This cabal has also been cultivated by science bureaucrats of the department of atomic energy, bereft of anything concrete to show on the power front, to secure their jobs and clout.
The downfall of India’s nuclear establishment commenced in 1974 when the then PM Indira Gandhi, to silence her detractors by commanding public veneration, ordered a crude N-blast. The misadventure earned a pariah status for the country. Ever since, DAE has been plodding along vainly, forced to grope in the dark to reinvent the wheel. Genuine scientists and engineers got swept under by master manipulators, who could climb onto the “national security” bandwagon. Leveraging massive PR budgets, they have got iconic status as “super-brilliant” scientists.
DAE and BARC practice a kind of oligopoly where high-born pundits have cornered most posts to the virtual exclusion of others, in complete dichotomy to the policy of affirmative action elsewhere. This commentator, during his decades of association with DAE, could count just one Muslim, one Sikh and a couple of Christians among the hundreds of officers he interacted with. The mindset of India’s nuclear coterie should be clear from this “justification” given in a letter to him: “Can you please tell me one single country in the world today which also does not have serious problem with its Muslim population? The point is they use of the excuse of Jihad”, and kill innocent children, women and men by senseless terrorist attacks. . . We have to safeguard the interests and security of our future generations.” This was from a top DAE gun, now enjoying a sinecure post with generous benefits.
With unsafeguarded nuclear technology in the hands of such closed minds possessing high capability, it may well end up in the development of smart N-bombs for using on “terrorist” minorities within the country!
Conflict of objectives
The deal is in trouble essentially because it attempts to dismantle powerful cliques and place India’s power sector – dominated till now by the public sector, where corruption and inefficiency are rampant – in a competitive framework. It seeks to exploit what could well be the cheapest and the most secure source of energy in the long term. India, on its own, can only dream of making the massive initial investments required for setting up the plants and in technology development.
The tariffs contracted recently with Tata and Reliance for Ultra Mega power plants gives an indication of the competitiveness of private sector power. While Tata Power will get Rs 2.26 per unit to generate power from imported coal, Reliance will get Rs 1.19 per unit of pit-head power at Sasan. This is in lieu of the Rs 6 crore per Mw of scarce funds from the exchequer needed for setting up the plants. Each of these UMPPs will generate 4000 Mw – double of the combined contribution from all atomic power stations, which had gobbled up mindboggling investments.
One look at India’s telecom scenario, where globalisation and market reforms busted a similar hegemony by fake experts and monopoly PSUs under the department of telecommunications, will reveal the possibilities. Nuclear plants can do for the power sector much more than what mobile telephony did to communications. There is no denying that mega profits will accrue to US companies from supplying cheap nuclear energy to the vast Indian market. The basic objective of US Congress in passing Henry Hyde Act is to let them exploit colossal business opportunities while balancing non-proliferation concerns. But, it is equally true that both economies will benefit immensely from the end of the isolation. Lack of power at affordable rates, due to decades of PSU monopoly, has impacted India’s global competitiveness in every field.
Left / right politicians are uncomfortable at the prospect of abundance of power, which will shatter the infallibility of their dogmas – State ownership of business in case of the Left Parties and hegemonic regional ambitions in the case of the BJP and its allies. The Congress Party, to whom Manmohan Singh owes his office, too is guilty of nurturing the charlatans in the past. Its power-hungry leaders were the first to hijack the N-program away from peaceful orientation.
GOING FORWARD
Singh did well to call the bluff of the comrades by citing China’s and Russia’s improving ties with US by stating, “Look at Vietnam, look at China — out of fear of dealing with the US, we cannot become a frog in the well.” He ruled out backtracking on commitments in an interview with the Kolkata-based daily The Telegraph, “It is not possible to renegotiate the deal. It is an honourable deal, the cabinet has approved it, we cannot go back on it. I told them to do whatever they want to do, if they want to withdraw support, so be it. . .” But, he fell short of drilling down the throat of Indians that hyping “India’s right to undertake future nuclear tests, if it is necessary” is just hypothetical.
Nobody prevents India from “following an independent foreign policy,” as Singh clarified in the Parliament. But, that is not the same as capricious possession and testing of nuke weapons. This has been demonstrated in case of Libya, Iraq, and North Korea and is close to be repeated in Iran. Moreover, the last word has not been said yet on nuclear commerce, which will begin only after US Senate approval. Nuclear Suppliers Group and the International Atomic Energy Agency have to agree to a waiver first. Japan, Germany, Russia and China have been and will be more aggressive than US in demanding strict safeguards. China, from whom our comrades take orders, is looking at waivers only for “peaceful use” of nuclear energy and for countries “abiding by their respective international obligations.” Letting the circus continue will, in the long term, put India’s economic resurgence at grave risk of getting derailed – via back-breaking sanctions, even if not by crippling power shortages.
A bold and rational posturing by India’s minorities – Muslims, Christians and Sikhs included – on the nuclear proliferation issue is essential to ensure that the march of the country towards prosperity is not arrested. Whatever the magnitude of injustice meted out by hostile elements – whether they be whole communities or governments – no civilized community can justifiably condone use of weapons of mass destruction or terrorist attacks targetting nonparticipants as revenge. Indian Muslims have an excellent opportunity to demonstrate to the world that 21st century Islam is dead set against proliferation of WMDs, by rejecting the country’s “Sovereign right to proliferate.” This will go a long way in wiping off the pandemic of Islamophobia that has assumed alarming proportions across the world.
Falling a victim of the designs of Machiavellian politicians can result in decimation of the minorities at the hands of fascist, fundamentalist forces.
(The author is a writer and analyst of trends in science, engineering and technology, who severed links with India’s nuclear establishment as equipment and component supplier when it veered the focus away from power to weapons program)
The article first appeared in The Milli Gazette, 1-15 September