Watching the nuclear non-debate in Parliament last week was a saddening experience. Ironically, not because of the positions taken by that old bully, the CPM, and its acolytes but because of the pathetic performance that the BJP offered.

How will we have Pokharan III if the deal goes through? This is the fundamental point that our Hindutva brethren seek to make without anyone seeing what is manifestly obvious. What is there to stop us testing another nuclear device if we want to? Did we ask permission to test the other two? What is the most that can happen? We will be sanctioned by the nuclear countries of the western world for being naughty again, but so what? I haven’t noticed that it has stopped Iran from going ahead with their nuclear programme and it never stopped us or Pakistan in the past.

The BJP’s scared-cat behaviour extends that ludicrous ‘sovereignty’ argument that has been the mainstay of the Left’s opposition to the deal. Although, later Commissar Karat was good enough to admit that what bothered him and his comrades most was that India getting into too cosy a relationship with the United States threatened China.

What is the BJP worldview? What is its view of India? Does it really believe that one deal will result in us bartering away India’s ‘sovereignty’, because if it does then it insults India. This is not a good thing for a political party that considers itself the flag-bearer of Indian nationalism. Surely, the BJP needs to come up with something more convincing. Surely it needs to think through the advantages of the deal — the access to civilian nuclear technology, the backdoor entry into the nuclear club, the importance of developing nuclear energy.

... contd.