With the next act of the Natwar Singh drama having unfolded and with the prime minister having taken off for a session with Putin, this week in parliament is going to be sheer chaos. Political life has taken on the characteristics of a vaudeville show and with every day a fresh farce dominates the media. For days we have been told repeatedly about the condition of Amitabh Bachchan?s intestines, about the bizarre revelations by a close aide of the former foreign minister, about the continuing denials, all of which are of no consequence to the real issues that confront this nation. Neither parliament nor the press address the many strategic areas where there has been no consensus and where government and the babu have forced decisions that may well be faulty.
The potential nuclear deal with the United States of America has neither been wholly welcomed by the scientific fraternity in India, nor by our defence establishment. After long years of being treated like a pariah by the US as it consistently nurtured and supported Pakistan, and having succeeded in developing our technology in these areas indigenously, without the assistance of the US, having to ?follow the leader? is unacceptable. As nations across the world begin to question the big bully status of the US, why is India becoming a stooge?
Of course we must build strong bilateral relations with America, but on equal terms ? not on their needs and requirements. We are not fools. We know the US needs India for geo-political and other reasons. Let us not get trapped into having to participate in future conflicts on the world stage that the US may initiate, as their ?partner? in crime. India needs to forge a consensus on such important matters of national concern.
Gentle entry
Till the official handshake with Bush in the US, Manmohan Singh was seen as a leader who would uphold the independence of the Indian position. That was his strength, and people respected and trusted him. Today, many have reservations about his view, as it seems to be emerging, in many areas of Indo US collaboration. He is beginning to be seen as a weak prime minister who has taken the easy option of succumbing to the pressure of the ?unipolar power?. There is strong dissension on this issue within the Congress. There will, no doubt, be huge flak and much back-tracking will have to be made.
The other face of the coin is a trifle more farcical ? an exhibit on the Freedom Movement of India, created by a former US ambassador?s wife?s NGO, to be housed, I gather on the grapevine, at the Nehru Museum, former residence of Jawaharlal Nehru. Finally, they will have entered the sacrosanct portals of where they have been aspiring to be for decades. Are we so bereft of ideas, skills and creativity to descend to this level? Are we incapable of absorbing the best and doing our own? Is our government so na?ve that it does not comprehend this kind of intrusion and its consequences? Is our leadership so simplistic that it does not understand the American adroitness in using ?cultural institutions? for effective political lobbying? They do it expertly in their country and now they feel they can swamp India. One sluice gate opens and there are queues outside of those wanting to set up India offices ? Asia Society, National Museum of Women in the Arts et al.
What we have to learn is the technique America uses to lobby its own government in politics and culture, not welcome its internal methodology to infiltrate our political and other domains. Weak governments, which do not have a profound understanding of the creative industries that control half a billion people and their future, will, at this level of supreme incomprehension, hand over the last surviving human resource on this planet to a declining superpower.
