US President George W. Bush begins his official visit to India today, amidst criticisms across the political spectrums of both countries over the Indo-US nuclear deal signed on July 18 last year.
Under the deal reached during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the United States, the Bush administration agreed to offer India access to civilian nuclear technology. If approved by the US Congress, it would grant India admission to the world’s exclusive nuclear club and access to the fuel it needs to boost nuclear energy production. In effect, it will end India’s pariah status for going nuclear in 1998 and confer the legitimacy it seeks as a nuclear power, even though New Delhi has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
India’s foreign policy under the Congress-led government has seen a major shift following its new partnership with the US, culminating in the nuclear agreement. The strategic relationship was reinforced when India abandoned its long-standing policy of non-alignment in September last year while voting in favor of the anti-Iran resolution sponsored by Western governments at the IAEA meeting in Vienna.
Critics say that the Bush administration’s overture to New Delhi is a grave mistake that would reward “bad behavior and encourage other countries to develop nuclear weapons in defiance of international agreements.“ Opponents also contend that making India an exception to the rule is an ill-advised move especially when the global community is trying hard to curb Iran’s civilian nuclear program.
In fact, the Islamic Republic has signed the NPT and therefore has the legitimate right to pursue its research activities for peaceful purposes. However, it has been subjected to international bullying and threats of sanctions. Bush has also warned that a military option against Iran “is not off the tables.“ Early last month the IAEA unfairly decided to report Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
As for the Indian government, its allies on the left and opponents on the right, as well as key figures from India’s scientific establishment have accused the administration of selling out national interests for approval from the superpower.
For Singh, negotiations with the Bush administration have now turned out to be a major political challenge at home.
The Bush nuclear generosity should be examined closely along with India’s shift in its external policy. India’s energy needs are massive and immediate, particularly since it wants to achieve its ambitious targets of economic development, which might even see this nation of over one billion overtaking the Chinese economy in the next few decades. While the US offer removes the stigma of “nuclear rogue“, it further helps India achieve its economic ambitions in the short-term.
However, experts say the nuclear deal meets only a small fraction, in the range of 10 to 12 percent, of India’s mammoth energy needs, which New Delhi could have obtained from Iran.
The Islamic Republic is a bigger source of energy having the second largest natural gas reserves in the world. Natural gas is also seen as a better and safer source of energy than nuclear power. Therefore the question of whether India’s move was rational in joining the US camp at the cost of jeopardizing its traditional ties with Iran and also reducing its international clout, still remains, given that the much touted Indo-US nuclear deal has now run into rough weather.
The US wants a say in deciding the separation of civilian and military nuclear programs, while India’s Atomic Energy Commission chief insists that this should be left to the Indians.
The Bush administration has geopolitical and military interests in seeking to cement relations with a huge and fast-growing economy like India as a way to counterbalance Communist China. For the Bush regime it is a policy of killing two birds with one stone, with the long-term objective of achieving a strategic economic (and also military) balance between the two Asian giants and at the same time protecting Washington’s interests in the region.
It is clear that US perspective on the nuclear issue in blinkered and bespeaks of double standards. Without doubt, the Bush administration has established some unhealthy precedents on the global nuclear issue and New Delhi has become a party to it.