A turkey wistfully looked at the enormous mango tree in front of him. He wished he could perch on top of the tree and get an unobstructed view of the sprawling jungle underneath. Unfortunately, he was too bulky and could not get his feet off the ground, let alone fly high. Desperate, he sought the advice of a bull that was grazing nearby. The "wise" bull had a solution. He told the turkey that his dung had a lot of nutrients, and that eating the dung would help the turkey fly. The obedient turkey religiously started eating bull dung. To his own surprise, he started getting agile by the day. Finally one day, the turkey flew high and scaled the mango tree! He perched on top of the tree like a king on his throne and started enjoying the view. Unfortunately, a hunter spotted him. No matter his new found agility, the turkey was still bulky and an easy target for the hunter. The hunter promptly loaded his gun and shot the turkey down. The moral of the story is that eating bull dung will get you to the top, but won't keep you there.
I am not a good story teller, but I hope you liked the story. Whether you liked it or not, the story bears a strong resemblance to Indian politics. The turkey is India's Congress Party, the summit of the mango tree stands for ultimate political power, and the bull is the collection of leftist parties in India. The congress party formed the United Public Alliance (UPA) with the communist left to gain a majority and claim power in the 2004 general elections. The congress party and the communist left are the unlikeliest of allies. But then anything is possible in Indian politics. Since 2004, a large part of Dr. Manmohan Singh's tenure as the Prime Minister has been spent in trying to convince his leftist allies to embrace his economic and foreign policies. Alas, the same communist left is threatening to bring the UPA coalition down.
Most recently, Mr. Singh has found himself between a rock and a hard place on the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal. On one side are his party leaders, who believe that a nuclear deal is beneficial for both India and the world. On the other side are the stubborn communists who are threatening to pull out of the coalition if the deal goes ahead. The communist leaders believe that the nuclear deal will allow US to "recolonize" India.
I strongly believe that the communist left ought to stop being naive. A civilian deal between two of the largest democracies in the world can only be beneficial. In the current global landscape, where dependence on foreign oil is closely linked to terrorism-related headaches, the nuclear deal offers an excellent way of quenching India's energy thirst, albeit in part. Besides, backing out on the nuclear deal with the US may have wider implications for Indo-US relationships. What credibility will India have with future US administrations or with any other country, if it
squanders a golden opportunity purely because of internal politics? What message will that send at a time when India is trying to establish itself as a stable superpower? The talk of recolonization is at best ridiculous. Swaminathan Aiyar of Swaminomics fame, addresses this issue in an excellent piece.
Will Dr. Singh succumb to the urge to stay in power by appeasing the communist left? Or will he be more heroic and embrace the N-Deal, which by the way has popular support in India, and set
the stage for stronger Indo-US relations as well as a stronger energy future? Let's hope for the best.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Nice piece. I think the whole recolonization hoopla is garbage. If there ever was a waste of oxygen it would be the entire membership of the Communist parties in India. But setting aside the politics I'm not sure if the deal is enormously beneficial in terms of energy security. The question on my mind is whether nuclear energy can ever account for even a quarter of the energy consumption. Besides there is the big problem of nuclear waste disposal that will increase with increased reliance on nuclear power. I'm not sure if our netas have the foresight to plan for all this while pushing for the deal. My cynical guess is their motivations are more pecuniary and myopic.
Sandeep
Remind me again- who's the hunter? The US, a guilty conscience, or the "poor, affected" people of India??
And, what about the stud"ies" you spoke about that need to be undertaken before any major investment? Was anything done to see how many people will be displaced? how many will have their livelihood stolen? and how many, among the poor, will actually benefit? What is the RoI, taking all these factors into account?
What happened to the "Socialist State" that India was supposed to be (according to the Preamble to the Constitution, put together by some of the greatest brains of pre-Independence India from the 1950s??)
My view is that anytime a country chooses to worry about its image in the world; when the poor suffer famished and with no shelter, something's messed up! And, this is another example.
The constitution was no doubt created by great brains of the 1950s. But the times have changed and we need to keep pace. Socialism is great in theory. But only in theory. Because of the deep-rooted corruption in Indian politics, socialism will never work. Granted, worrying about our image and being pro-capitalism has not done much for our poor. But being a self-proclaimed socialist state will not help either.
Post a Comment