In 2007, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh began pushing the Indo-US nuclear deal, the entire Opposition objected to it. Even the United Progressive Alliance’s own ally, the Left vehemently criticised it and threatened to bring down the government and some of his own party colleagues were a bit apprehensive.
Unfazed by the intensity of the opposition and driven by his conviction that it was beneficial for the country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh put his job on the line and saw the deal through.
A year later, Sushma Swaraj, then far more voluble and visible than she is now, declared in her usual dramatic style, that if the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power it would definitely renegotiate the deal, which she said had bartered away India’s sovereignty.
She compared Dr Singh to Jehangir, who had entered into an agreement with the East India Company which then went on to colonise the entire country (those Mughals!).
But the BJP counted for little back then. It was the Left, with its 60-plus MPs, which shook up the government, almost bringing it to its knees. Today, Ms Swaraj is silent and the Left has disappeared from the scene.
One recalls those tumultuous days only to understand the context of the recent Barack Obama visit, the highlight of which is supposed to be an understanding reached between India and the US on the controversial nuclear liability law.
This was something that even Dr Singh balked at, since it clearly would have absolved suppliers of any liability in the event of an accident. Other countries did not seem to have a problem with it, but the US dug in its heels, saying its companies would not subject themselves to this provision.
Some of sort of agreement between the US and India has been reached, or so the two governments tell us, but no details have been provided.
This could be because the details have not been worked out, or there is some sort of secret understanding. Whatever little that has emerged suggests the creation of an escrow insurance account to which India will contribute '1,500 crore, as if that can fully cover damages in case of a major accident.
No mention of Jehangir now (and in any case, Ms Swaraj is neither seen nor heard anymore.) This is a U-turn of monumental proportions, even for a party that has specialised in sharply swerving from its stated positions only a few years ago. It would be more convincing if the government came out openly and said, “Look, we got it wrong then and it was all just partisan politics, but we genuinely believe in it.”
No one would object to that, since there is no real antipathy to the deal itself, just concerns about what exactly has been agreed upon with Mr Obama this time round. But it has been taking full credit for all the initiatives put in place by Dr Singh and which it found objectionable enough to hold up Parliament for days on end. The Congress is happy that Dr Singh has been given credit it has little to say about the agreement itself, since it was what the Congress wanted in the first place.
But here’s a question where is the Left? Where are those militant ideologues who, on a matter of principle, wanted to bring down the government they had supported when it was formed? Why are they missing in action? Forget the streets, they are not even in the television studios anymore, where, amidst all that cacophony, they could at least contribute an original and insightful thought.
Throughout UPA-1, the Left, led by the redoubtable Prakash Karat, was a thorn in the side of the Singh government, demanding and getting almost everything it wanted, till they pushed the mild mannered Sardar too far and were shocked to see him stand up to them.
Yet, the Left’s strong objections to the nuclear bill were based on some sort of ideological consistency. The fear of “US imperialism” was and is more than just a convenient political slogan to be trotted out every now and then. Left parties have come to understand the country’s mood is no longer what it was in the 1970s, when anti-American fervour was at its height. Today, the average urban Indian wants to send their child to the West to study or work and sees benefits in partnering with America and buying American consumer goods. The Left thus finds itself in a tiny minority that looks out of date and on the wrong side of history. It is also not the political force it was even six years ago. But its leaders are still around and capable of making their voice heard the question is, why are they not being heard?
Several recent developments could do with interventions of the Left the new labour laws, which even the BJP’s own Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh finds objectionable, the cutting down of funding to social programmes, enacting ordinances that help big business, domestic and foreign, the growing communalism in the country and now, an opaque agreement that would dilute the liabilities of American nuclear equipment suppliers are all issues that the Left, in an earlier time, would have fought tooth and nail. Today, there is not a peep out of them.
This is not something to gloat over. The Left movements in India have played a historic role over protecting workers’ rights, introducing land reforms and generally maintaining a progressive, secular character. Too often it has lost its way its blind anti-Congressism that led it to support the likes of V.P. Singh, who also was being backed by the BJP is one such. The atrophy of West Bengal can directly be blamed on the Left’s short-sighted policies. But on too many issues, they are the voice of reason. And that is a voice that is needed more than ever now.
