Read it carefully, from India’s security perspective. After World War II, the US imposed a pacifist constitution on Japan that prevented it from having a standing army of its own, leave alone its own nuclear weapons. As far as Europe is concerned, NATO is a US-led security alliance and there is no doubt about who will call the shots in a time of crisis. So, should India become America’s junior partner in its global security architecture tomorrow, as Japan and EU are today?

It is a question that the BJP leadership, in particular, must ponder over. It is the party that made India a nuclear weapon power and made Indians, both here and abroad, proud. Now a concerted attempt is being made to bail out a beleaguered Manmohan Singh by playing on the BJP’s deep-rooted anti-Left sentiments.

“How can you make common cause with the Communists in opposing the deal?” BJP leaders are being asked. “You will lose your middle-class base, which wants India to be on the right side of the US,” they are being cautioned. The party, sadly, has made no effort to educate its own cadres, or the public at large, about the myth of energy security and the reality of the perils to India’s national security.

Nevertheless, if the proud legacy of Pokharan II means anything to the BJP, and if it thinks, as it has consistently done since 1964, when it first raised the demand for an Indian nuclear deterrent, that India’s national security must always be foolproof and self-reliant, now is the time for the party’s leadership to remain firm on its well- and oft-stated stand. And if Prakash Karat has to be made an ally in letting the whole world know that a majority of MPs in Indian Parliament are opposed to the deal, so be it.