[WSMDiscuss] A Cock-and-Bull (Malicious) Story as regards the Indo-US Nuclear Deal: After Short 13 Years

[Sukla Sen]

The Deal was clinched in 2008.

The Left and the BJP - both, had aggressively and vociferously opposed.
So had the smallish anti-nuclear movement in the country.
While the grounds for opposition of the Left and the BJP had considerable
overlaps, the anti-nuclear peace movement had opposed broadly from a
different standpoint - though there was some overlap with the Left.
(For a voice from within the Indian anti-nuke peace movement: <
http://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article10224>.
That was a part of the campaign.)

The government of the day - threatened with collapse consequent upon its
dogged insistence on going ahead and resultant withdrawal of outside
support by the Left, could with some visible difficulty, eventually, save
itself - though its honour didn't remain intact.
There was uproarious scene in the Lok Sabha; some BJP members, duly
captured by the Lok Sabha TV, rained currency notes - apparently delivered
to lure some non-Congress members to cross over during voting, on the
Speaker's table.
The Speaker had stood solidly with the government and, as a consequence,
would get expelled from his parent party - the CPI(M).

Even in that superheated environ, no one - just no one, had made any such
allegation.
One of the reasons, apart from being visibly baseless, must have been that
China itself had rather meekly submitted to the US pressure in two critical
forums - IAEA and NSG, while a few others had shown some greater spine and
held out for a little longer.
Pakistan had, of course, opposed it all through - tooth and nail, quite
fruitlessly.

That was the story then - some thirteen years back.
The BJP had been no less vicious in its opposition to the Deal as compared
to the Left.

Btw, I had then been a part of an international campaign, undertaken by
activists, from different corners of the globe, championing global nuclear
disarmament, spearheaded by Daryl Kimball - an eminent one from the US.
I was the lone member from India.
The campaign had primarily focussed on the US Senate.
(The patriotic Indian press, it may be recalled, had coined a term -
"Disarmament Ayatollahs", to label and mar those favouring nuclear
disarmament.)
Despite valiant strivings, the campaign eventually failed.

Now a cock-and-bull story after the lapse of short thirteen years.
In quest for a lucrative appointment?

And this Shubhajit Roy - author of the report, had taken a telephonic
interview of mine and also a few anti-nuke friends in India, obtaining the
telephone numbers from me.
Completely distorted my words and those of others too - in his subsequent
report in the IE, as a part of his (and/or that of the IE) propaganda blitz
in favour of the Deal.
Had written to the Press Council.
No result.

<<Knowing the influence that the Left parties wielded in the United
Progressive Alliance government of Dr Manmohan Singh, China *perhaps*
[emphasis added] played on their fears about India’s tilt to the Americans.
This *may have been* [emphasis added] the first example of China’s foray
into domestic politics, but they were careful to remain behind the scenes,”
he [i.e. former Indian Foreign Secretary Vjay Gokhale, in his subject
book]  further writes.>>

(Excerpted from: 'China tried to use Left to scuttle n-deal: Former foreign
secretary Vijay Gokhale' at <
https://indianexpress.com/article/india/indo-us-nuclear-deal-china-opposition-vijay-gokhale-book-7435411/
>.)

The credit goes to this Roy for the transition of the "may" into an
assertive yes.
So, it's a two-stage affair.
The final bit being contributed by Roy.

Sukla
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.openspaceforum.net/pipermail/wsm-discuss/attachments/20210803/59060b4e/attachment.htm>