Quo vadis....?

So ends the great Indian tamasha. Or maybe it hasn’t; one can really never be sure. But if there’s one thing that one can be sure of, it is this that there is no depth in Hades that can be surpassed, no threshold in Hell that can be bettered by our political class.

We are wont to claim that we are the world’s biggest democracy, and that this alone should be cause to welcome us with open arms into the corridors of global power. But the fact remains that irrespective of our size as a democratic system, it still remains suspect as to whether we have truly comprehended the full import of the responsibilities that being a democracy entails.

Democracy is a word (pardon my lesson on linguistics J) formed from the Greek word for popular government ‘dimokratia’, itself derived from the words ‘demos’ (people) and ‘kratos’ (rule). It is therefore expected that the will of the people would be considered sacrosanct by a democratic system. So where lies the will of the people?

One must admit that the quality of the debate in Parliament has significantly improved, considering that for the first time in independent India’s history a government was being questioned on a matter of foreign policy. It’s true that this matter had greater domestic implications, but essentially the objections to the policy decision were mainly on concerns of sovereignty, surely not a domestic concern.

The nuclear deal is the need of the hour, if not in its form, but at least in spirit and essence. India cannot meet the growing energy requirements of a progressing populace with conventional and non-nuclear non-conventional sources of energy. The conventional sources are too polluting and given the concerns on global warming, we would be better off trying to reduce our reliance on such sources. The non-nuclear non-conventional sources of energy (wind, tidal, solar, hydro) are too expensive and too untested to deliver the concrete results that we need.

The opponents of the deal have stated that this deal would make us beholden to a certain foreign power and to its ‘undesirable’ influence. What they seem to have failed to comprehend, or at least wish not to comprehend, is that the due process being followed to go through with the deal would enable us to get the nuclear technology and fuel from all the current members of the NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group), and not just from one or two selected members. And then again, those who accuse the government of selling out to a particular power are themselves ‘guilty’, by their own standards, of having ‘sold out’ the nation to the very same power. A case of the pot calling the kettle black, perhaps?

The government now has 9 months to get the deal through. Its task wouldn’t be any easier, what with its motley team of allies, all of whom are as temperamental as a baby with a soiled diaper. History will show us whether this vote was just; posterity will judge us for our commitment to our principles.