I believe distance between SP, UPA must be covered: Paswan

Sitting in the lobby of the well-appointed Marriott Hotel, the conference venue, and surrounded by organisers and delegates — LJP officebearers, overworked members of the conference's local hosts, the American Federation of Muslims of Indian origin, a sprinkling of present and mostly former legislators from “secular” parties, a group of cheerful and much-travelled Buddhist monks, at least one academic, a Planning Commission member, a businessman and a self-proclaimed “networker” — Paswan expands on why this conference will be different.

This time, at the conference end, he says, there won’t be just another “resolution”. There will be a “declaration”. Because, 60 years after Independence, “the time has come to stop appealing to the Government; we must take decisive action”. What will that be? “For that you must wait till the end of the conference,” he says.

More than a little piquantly, the Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilisers and Steel invokes Gandhi's famous call to the British in 1942. On the cover of the shiny “New York Vision Document”, his picture shares space with that of B R Ambedkar and the Statue of Liberty.

The LJP’s position, he says, is that the nuclear deal is in the national interest. But, the Left has been an ally, so Left parties’ reservations must also be addressed. “I don't think the Left parties are adamant on this issue. If they wanted to pull the Government down, they could have done so two years ago. Talks will go on, both sides will bend a little, and a way out will be found,” he says. "The Left knows that even after fresh elections, it may have to do...