Between now and May 28, the Congress may announce its decision to go ahead with the IAEA safeguards and may leave it to the communists to withdraw support — and that will not cause much damage. They can dare the BJP to oppose the deal when the uranium crunch has compelled our reactors to run at 50 per cent capacity. That calls for rare courage on Sonia Gandhi’s part, such as the kind she displayed when she stepped aside to make Manmohan Singh the prime minister.

The next three weeks will show how this game for India’s nuclear future will unfold. The East India Company occupied this country without bringing in a large invading army. By fighting among themselves, the Indian maharajahs and nawabs handed over the country to the Company. Are we going to see a repeat of that because of the parochial infighting among our major political parties?

The writer is a senior defence analyst

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