O J’s Corner

Congress Party in a bind

The Congress Party is writhing in pain in the quagmire of opportunistic politics. One cannot blame politicians, for their success depends upon the amount of trickery they can play on a canvas of political opportunism.

I used to think about the situations that prevailed in Italy and Japan, where often governments were in place for the shortest tenures compared to various other meaningful countries. There were mega coalition contraptions of a government there from time to time. At the least of provocations, the Prime Ministers used to call it a day. I am of the opinion that governments should not continue, if their basic poll planks cannot be adhered to. The wishes of MPs to cling on simply for the sake of enjoying power and pelf need not be allowed to be materialized at the cost of basic principles.

MPs are not concerned about the plight of Dr Manmohan Singh regarding the India-US nuclear deal. The discomfiture is not felt by the legislators. Manmohan Singh cannot face US President George Bush and the administration without loss of face, if he is not able to seal the deal into a treaty.

The Left parties are playing up the provisions of the Hyde Act, which would hamper the independence of Indian administration in carrying out a nuclear explosion in the future. They forget it for a fact that there was no Hyde Act, no agreement with the US earlier. How many decades the Indian Government wanted to test a nuclear device? The attempts were all thwarted by pressures from the US Government from time to time, even as there was no formal agreement with it. First Indira Gandhi faced the flak Then Prime Minister A.B.Vajpayee had to employ sinister tactics at camouflage to test the nuclear device further.

The country is bound by 123 agreement alone. Hyde Act is for the US administration to observe. What can the US do, if a gigantic country with so much of human resources like India undertake tests independently?

The Left Parties see red whenever they hear the country name, US. They have no complaints if China prefers the same stance to hold on.

Now the Congress Party is suffering almost alone. It cannot go in for elections jettisoning the Left, for the times are far from conducive for facing elections. But then, political sagacity has to come to terms with adversities also as an inclusive phenomenon.