I am not an ardent fan of the Congress party," says Rakesh Shetty, a Tata AIG Life Insurance's branch training manager in Goregaon, northwest Mumbai. "I will not vote for the party if and when the next general elections are held," adds the 33 year old quickly. But he does support the Congress party in what it is doing to save the nuclear deal.
He is confident that the magic figure of 272 will be achieved when the 'no trust' motion is put to vote on Tuesday. But the wheeling-dealing taking place to surpass the figure agonises him. "It will definitely help a power-deficient India
to produce adequate clean nuclear energy but the shenanigans of Indian politicos will surely leave a bad taste in the mouth of the electorate!"
Join the Trust Vote discussion
"This is not the first instance of horse trading," he points out, referring to the political drama unfolding in Delhi, where the cost of one vote in favour of the ruling UPA alliance is alleged to be anywhere in the range of Rs 25 crore to Rs 100 crore.
Rakesh agrees that he contradicts his own position on horse trading of MPs and his agony over it. But he says if he were to choose he'd rather go for India signing the nuclear deal with America; "a lesser evil of the two," he notes.
Ask him if the incumbent UPA were better off concentrating its energies and resources in taming the beast of inflation and he disagrees: "Inflation is because of the high crude price and that is not in Indian government's control." Rakesh
firmly believes that controlling inflation and success of the nuclear treaty are two unrelated issues. "They should not be mixed, for god's sake," he sighs.
But then isn't he speaking like a representative of a typical, ever-growing Indian middle class who will receive maximum benefits from this nuclear deal?
"Why always blame the Indian middle class?" he fumes. The people called the 'Indian middle class' today belonged to the lower class ten years back, argues Rakesh. Aided by an open economy post 1991, talented and hard-working Indians achieved this status, he states.
Complete Coverage: Alliance in Crisis
He queries: Will not more electricity after the nuclear deal bring cheer to Indian farmers and poor people if they get it at affordable rates?
While the second question is a moot one, Rakesh, who has many problems with a number of Congress policies "the nuclear deal is still good for the country."
Image: Rakesh Shetty near his home. Text and photograph: Prasanna D Zore
Advertisement
