Click to play videoIs the accusation of the CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat, blaming the PM for a political crisis in the country now, fair? The lead opponent of the nuclear deal, Karat, squarely blames the Prime Minister for the country's political crisis.
In the party's mouthpiece, People's Democracy, he questions the PMs motive to rush to the IAEA now.
The urge, he claims, comes from a US dictated schedule designed to help US President George Bush leave a legacy in the last few months of a discredited presidency.
This rush, he claims, is contrary to the understanding between the Congress and the Left, arrived at in November last year.
The carefully-worded piece that blames the PM and is hard on the government, while leaving the Congress leadership blameless. Is there any merit in his argument? Has the nuclear deal now become an ego battle between the PM and the CPM General Secretary ?
CNN-IBN debated the issue on Face the Nation with a panel comprising Editor-in-Chief, Outlook, Vinod Mehta and defence analyst Rear Admiral (retd) Raja Menon.
Menon kickstarted the debate and said the issue was not about egos at all. In fact, he said, no one – and certainly not Communists – stood competition to a man like Manmohan Singh who, he said, was world’s most qualified prime minister. “On the one hand you have a world famous economist who pulled the country out of trouble once. He is the most qualified PM of the world and on the right side you have man whose only qualification is that he is a communist. These are ridiculous people,” he said, adding Karat did not know what was good for the country.
Vinod Mehta, however, did not agree and said Communist-bashing was a national pastime. “While it may not be true that it’s an ego battle, I think PM has also got to see in what context he is trying to push the deal. I think everybody thinks it’s good deal but heavens won’t fall if it doesn’t go through,” he said.
Mehta also said while he was not against the nuclear deal per se, the priority of Indian Government should be on taming the alarming inflation numbers. “You go 25 miles out of the Capital and you’ll find no one has heard of the N-deal. They are only worried about price rise,” he said.
Many critics of the PM would agree with that point of view. That school of thought believes Manmohan Singh should not plunge the country into the uncertainty of early elections just because of the nuclear deal.
Singh vs Karat: Who is to blame?
However, Mehta also balanced out his sharp opinion by saying the inflexible behaviour of Karat and the Left parties was irritating. He also said Communists will be equally responsible for plunging the country into early elections despite there being a middle ground. “There was a face-saving formula to allow the Govt to go to the IAEA and get an undertaking from the Left. Why was that formula not explored?” he questioned.
In a strongly-worded article in CPM’s mouthpiece People’s Democracy, Karat has criticized Manmohan Singh and said the Government was running on auto-pilot.
Menon did not agree with Mehta and said there was never a “compromise formula” in the first place. “The procedure of getting the deal done has been in place for two years. The fact that Karat has discovered it now is hardly a great discover,” he said.
But top US senators came to India in February and made clear the US could wait only till July. Manmohan Singh could have pushed for the deal then. But why did he wait so long and not start talks with the Left then?
Menon defended the PM again and said such situations arose due to limitation of politics. “The PM’s political position has only enabled him to do what he has. If you look at how tough conferences are conducted, you’d realise the parties opposed to the issue will push to midnight,” he said.
One of the charges that Karat makes is that the understanding the Left had with Congress in November last year has been violated. That understanding, he claims, was that there will be no further progress and the deal will be buried within the UPA-Left coordination committee. He also distinguishes between the Prime Minister and the Congress leadership.
Mehta said while Congress leadership was publicly backing the PM, an average Congressman is petrified at the thought of a November election. “Congress will get annihilated. By the time elections happen, inflation will be 13-14 per cent. N-deal has very less resonance in India,” he said.
So in this eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation, who should back out? Mehta said while PM should not back out, Karat had an equal responsibility for the country.
Final comments: Who’s pushing the deal – PM or his advisors?
Vinod Mehta: He would be a very poor PM if was being pushed into it. It’s PM who’s very keen on the deal.
Raja Menon: Don’t forget, the PM signed the deal. The PM understands the deal better than anyone in the Government.
Results of SMS/Web poll: Has the nuclear deal now become an ego battle between the PM and the CPM General Secretary ?
Yes: 84 per cent
No: 16 per cent
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