national turmoil

No issue has rocked the nation in the recent times with such magnitude as has the Indo-US nuclear treaty. The matter is a topic of hot discussion across the nation and has become a major bone of contention.

Manmohan Singh government's handling of the matter has drawn a lot of flak. The haste and impulsiveness they showed to sign the deal while a majority had no inkling of the matter has been subjected to sharp criticism. The Indian citizens were kept in the dark on the contents of the agreement, and yet the government was rushing to clinch the deal.

The Bahujan Samaj Party withdrew their support to the Congress-led UPA government citing reasons of inflation and UPA’s failure to keep promises. The CPI (M) was persistent in its demands for transparency of the treaty and when their deadline to the govt. to back out from the deal was ignored, they were forced to pull out of the UPA.

Eminent personalities of the scientific field of the likes of P.J. Abdul Kalam claim India would be greatly benefitted by this deal with guarantee of uninterrupted nuclear fuel supplies and clean nuclear energy. But at what cost? Signing the deal invariably means surrendering to the US discretion in our nuclear matters.

The situation has now escalated into political chaos, and a vote of confidence has been called for on July 22 for the govt. to prove its majority. The Congress-led UPA government has assured the nation that it will move forward with the deal only if it wins the trust vote on July 22. Small and regional parties have a major role to play in the outcome of the trust vote, but they resort to cheap politics at this crucial juncture, and their intentions are purely selfish.

The issue at hand has thrown the whole country into disarray, and an election seems inevitable and just around the corner. The contents of the deal should be laid bare. Since it is a matter of national importance where India’s sovereignty is threatened, the issue should be seriously considered and all the pros and cons debated sensibly. The political parties should have the nation's interest as priority above their selfish motives, and the nuclear deal should be signed if and only if found to be in the best interests of the nation.