This is a ludicrous argument. Who is the prime minister in comparison with the nation? In a democracy, no political personality is indispensable. Second, an elected prime minister must be first and foremost answerable to the people. Third, I also think that if our prime minister's political credibility is indeed in some jeopardy today, that is more on account of the government's pursuit of neo-liberal economic policies.

Our prime minister has a reputation as an economist. That reputation is in jeopardy today.

His political legacy lies in leading the coalition government for the full term and, more important, in utilising the remaining period in office to do something to reorient the economic policies in directions that meet the interests of the common people, so that his party and its allies can hope to get a renewed mandate to govern the country.

How do you rate the Congress party's handling of this issue? Has the Congress played its hand well?

Yes, the Congress has shown that no matter its decline as a national party, the grand old dame hasn't lost its touch in manipulative politics. The high water mark was the 'consensus' wrung out of reluctant protagonists to take the file to the IAEA. The plea -- then as now -- was that our prime minister must be given an exit route and a face-saving formula must be found so as to freeze the deal.

The creation of the United Progressive Alliance-Left committee was a shrewd move. It ensured that all criticism of the deal got confined within the four walls of the committee. The public debate became a one-sided affair. In turn, this enabled the government to let loose a propaganda war.

Go to the archives of our newspapers; the establishment propagandists had a field day in recent months, they saw a Red Star over the Indian horizon; they screamed that critics of the nuclear deal are Chinese agents. They called them anti-national.

On balance, my feeling is that Congress is overreaching. The deal may please influential corporate houses. It may even help the Congress get a slice of the middle class votes that would have been with the BJP. But in the ultimate analysis, all that may still not add up. The nuclear deal is not exactly going to set the Ganges on fire.

Too much elitism -- that is what makes prime minister's media managers speak in terms of his 'credibility' problem. The prime minister's 'credibility' ultimately lies in securing a renewed mandate for the party to rule.

The remaining eight or nine months of stable governance and a programmatic approach in the run-up to the April 2009 elections -- that is what is needed. Instead, what do we see? The prime minister can have a pleasant meeting with George W Bush on the sidelines of the G-8. Doesn't it sound pathetic?

Photograph: Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images

Also read: Next steps in the nuclear deal

Back

|

Next