After the 'trust vote' for Indian Congress
Billy Ahmed | Saturday, 2 August 2008
AFTER an acrimonious debate by opposition with charges of intimidation and vote buying, India's parliament reaffirmed its confidence in the Congress Party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government on July 23.
Two hundred and seventy-five members of the Lok Sabha voted in favour of the motion expressing confidence or "trust."
Two hundred and fifty-six MPs, including some 60 members of the Left Front voted in favour of bringing the government down. Ten MPs either abstained or failed to present themselves for the vote.
The constitutionally binding "trust vote" was precipitated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's and Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi's decision to defy their Left Front allies and take the next step in completing the Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation treaty.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front had repeatedly said it would withdraw support from the government if New Delhi sought International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s approval of the Indo-US nuclear deal.
The Left Front opposes the nuclear treaty with the US, for what it thinks it marks a break with India's traditional "non-aligned" foreign policy and that the treaty has been fashioned by Washington with the aim of harnessing India to its "imperialist" ambitions in Asia and the Middle East.
For months, the Congress Party leadership manoeuvred and dodged. But under heavy pressure from the Bush administration and, in particular, the corporate India, which is strongly supportive of the nuclear deal and a closer partnership with Washington, the Congress leadership made it known earlier last month that it will be seeking approval for an "India-specific" safeguard (or nuclear non-proliferation) agreement when the IAEA meets in the beginning of this month.
The Left Front then sent a letter to the Indian president formally withdrawing its parliamentary support for the UPA, thereby compelling the Congress-led government to call the "trust vote."
The Bush administration lost no time in expressing its delight at the outcome of the Lok Sabha vote. "The US welcomes the support in Indian Parliament for the US-India civil nuclear cooperation initiative," declared David Mulford, the US ambassador to India.
"We will work closely with the Government of India in days ahead for rapid completion of the ratification process through IAEA, the Nuclear Suppliers' Group and the US Congress."
In the wake of confidence vote, big business is looking to the UPA to speed up the pace of neo-liberal "reform."
Prominent members of the Bush administration have repeatedly termed the civilian nuclear cooperation treaty with India the most important foreign policy initiative undertaken by George W. Bush during his second term.
Washington thinks of the treaty and associated military cooperation and arms deals as a means to cement an Indo-US "global, strategic partnership" that will tie India with US strategic objectives, especially in countering a rising China, extending US influence in oil-rich Central Asia, and isolating Iran.
France and Russia have both come out strongly for ending the international embargo on nuclear trade with India and will argue to support the Indo-US nuclear treaty within the IAEA and Nuclear Suppliers Group.
This is because both countries believe that they stand to profit handsomely from expanding India's civilian nuclear programme.
China has expressed reservations about the Indo-US nuclear treaty, but is unlikely to take on to veto the deal at either the IAEA or NSG for fear that such action would only push India further into the US's embrace.
India's corporate elite and most of its strategic, nuclear and military establishment strongly approve the nuclear deal.
Neither the Congress Party leadership, nor the Indian 'bourgeoisie' seek a confrontation with China.
In the three years since Manmohan Singh and George W. Bush agreeing in principle on Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation, India's foreign policy has undergone a marked shift.
Washington has not shied away from bluntly using the nuclear deal to pressure New Delhi to do its bidding.
India has lent its support the Bush administration's policy stance on the IAEA's deliberations over Iran's nuclear programme and dragged its feet on the proposed India-Pakistan-Iran natural gas pipeline.
As the vote approached, the opponents of the government including the Left Front, the Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), on the one side, and the Congress and its UPA allies, on the other, traded allegations of unprincipled manoeuvres, inducements, intimidation and vote-buying. BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati charged that the government had directed the Criminal Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to revive several cases against her as retaliation for her decision to oppose the government.
The Lok Sabha was thrown into chaos when one BJP MP produced a bag full of cash and several others held up wads of currency-money they claimed had been given them by a leader of the Samajwadi Party or SP to get them to vote in favour of the government.
The Samajwadi Party was a long-time ally of the Stalinist Left Front and a vocal opponent of the nuclear treaty until earlier last month when it struck a back-room deal with the Congress Party leadership to back the UPA in the "trust vote."
At this point it is impossible to say whether either side will be able to provide any credible evidence supporting their allegations of corrupt practices or whether the allegations of vote-buying will prove to be a one-day wonder.
What can be said is that, given corporate India's strong support for the Indo-US nuclear treaty, it is unlikely the media will chase the vote-buying charges with any vigour.
The vote is a major blow to the Left Front. For four years, it faithfully propped up the Congress-led UPA.
The Congress leadership unceremoniously dumped its Left Front allies so it could press forward with a strategic partnership with the Bush administration and US "neo-colonialism".
Even if the UPA-government lost the "trust vote", it would not have thwarted the Indo-US nuclear deal and the thriving ties between New Delhi and Washington.
As BJP leader and prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani was at pains to make clear during the "trust vote" debate, the BJP strongly favours a strategic partnership with the US.
The BJP objects to the Henry Hyde Act, the US legislation that sanctions the Indo-US nuclear treaty, because it provides for harsh penalties in the event India stages a further nuclear weapons test.
Advani pledged to the Lok Sabha that if the NDA returns to power, "we will renegotiate the nuclear deal to make it equal and ensure that there are no constraints on our strategic autonomy."
(The writer is tea planter, columnist and researcher. He can be reached at Email: [email protected])
Two hundred and seventy-five members of the Lok Sabha voted in favour of the motion expressing confidence or "trust."
Two hundred and fifty-six MPs, including some 60 members of the Left Front voted in favour of bringing the government down. Ten MPs either abstained or failed to present themselves for the vote.
The constitutionally binding "trust vote" was precipitated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's and Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi's decision to defy their Left Front allies and take the next step in completing the Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation treaty.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front had repeatedly said it would withdraw support from the government if New Delhi sought International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s approval of the Indo-US nuclear deal.
The Left Front opposes the nuclear treaty with the US, for what it thinks it marks a break with India's traditional "non-aligned" foreign policy and that the treaty has been fashioned by Washington with the aim of harnessing India to its "imperialist" ambitions in Asia and the Middle East.
For months, the Congress Party leadership manoeuvred and dodged. But under heavy pressure from the Bush administration and, in particular, the corporate India, which is strongly supportive of the nuclear deal and a closer partnership with Washington, the Congress leadership made it known earlier last month that it will be seeking approval for an "India-specific" safeguard (or nuclear non-proliferation) agreement when the IAEA meets in the beginning of this month.
The Left Front then sent a letter to the Indian president formally withdrawing its parliamentary support for the UPA, thereby compelling the Congress-led government to call the "trust vote."
The Bush administration lost no time in expressing its delight at the outcome of the Lok Sabha vote. "The US welcomes the support in Indian Parliament for the US-India civil nuclear cooperation initiative," declared David Mulford, the US ambassador to India.
"We will work closely with the Government of India in days ahead for rapid completion of the ratification process through IAEA, the Nuclear Suppliers' Group and the US Congress."
In the wake of confidence vote, big business is looking to the UPA to speed up the pace of neo-liberal "reform."
Prominent members of the Bush administration have repeatedly termed the civilian nuclear cooperation treaty with India the most important foreign policy initiative undertaken by George W. Bush during his second term.
Washington thinks of the treaty and associated military cooperation and arms deals as a means to cement an Indo-US "global, strategic partnership" that will tie India with US strategic objectives, especially in countering a rising China, extending US influence in oil-rich Central Asia, and isolating Iran.
France and Russia have both come out strongly for ending the international embargo on nuclear trade with India and will argue to support the Indo-US nuclear treaty within the IAEA and Nuclear Suppliers Group.
This is because both countries believe that they stand to profit handsomely from expanding India's civilian nuclear programme.
China has expressed reservations about the Indo-US nuclear treaty, but is unlikely to take on to veto the deal at either the IAEA or NSG for fear that such action would only push India further into the US's embrace.
India's corporate elite and most of its strategic, nuclear and military establishment strongly approve the nuclear deal.
Neither the Congress Party leadership, nor the Indian 'bourgeoisie' seek a confrontation with China.
In the three years since Manmohan Singh and George W. Bush agreeing in principle on Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation, India's foreign policy has undergone a marked shift.
Washington has not shied away from bluntly using the nuclear deal to pressure New Delhi to do its bidding.
India has lent its support the Bush administration's policy stance on the IAEA's deliberations over Iran's nuclear programme and dragged its feet on the proposed India-Pakistan-Iran natural gas pipeline.
As the vote approached, the opponents of the government including the Left Front, the Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), on the one side, and the Congress and its UPA allies, on the other, traded allegations of unprincipled manoeuvres, inducements, intimidation and vote-buying. BSP supremo and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati charged that the government had directed the Criminal Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to revive several cases against her as retaliation for her decision to oppose the government.
The Lok Sabha was thrown into chaos when one BJP MP produced a bag full of cash and several others held up wads of currency-money they claimed had been given them by a leader of the Samajwadi Party or SP to get them to vote in favour of the government.
The Samajwadi Party was a long-time ally of the Stalinist Left Front and a vocal opponent of the nuclear treaty until earlier last month when it struck a back-room deal with the Congress Party leadership to back the UPA in the "trust vote."
At this point it is impossible to say whether either side will be able to provide any credible evidence supporting their allegations of corrupt practices or whether the allegations of vote-buying will prove to be a one-day wonder.
What can be said is that, given corporate India's strong support for the Indo-US nuclear treaty, it is unlikely the media will chase the vote-buying charges with any vigour.
The vote is a major blow to the Left Front. For four years, it faithfully propped up the Congress-led UPA.
The Congress leadership unceremoniously dumped its Left Front allies so it could press forward with a strategic partnership with the Bush administration and US "neo-colonialism".
Even if the UPA-government lost the "trust vote", it would not have thwarted the Indo-US nuclear deal and the thriving ties between New Delhi and Washington.
As BJP leader and prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani was at pains to make clear during the "trust vote" debate, the BJP strongly favours a strategic partnership with the US.
The BJP objects to the Henry Hyde Act, the US legislation that sanctions the Indo-US nuclear treaty, because it provides for harsh penalties in the event India stages a further nuclear weapons test.
Advani pledged to the Lok Sabha that if the NDA returns to power, "we will renegotiate the nuclear deal to make it equal and ensure that there are no constraints on our strategic autonomy."
(The writer is tea planter, columnist and researcher. He can be reached at Email: [email protected])