The winds of election appears to have picked up momentum what with the UPA-Left standoff on the Indo-US Nuclear Deal refusing to subside and the political stakes getting higher for both sides. The simmering differences which for sometime had been kept on a tight leash under the cloak of the UPA-Left Committee headed by External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, has now officially come out into the open with the UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi herself taking the lead in selling the nuke deal to rural India, her rally in Haryana doing just that and launching it as a public issue in the process and if one may say so, formally taking the first step towards a mid-term elections. Not surprisingly, the Left parties have reacted strongly even going to the extent of alleging that the Congress was forcing elections on the country.
For the Left, blaming the Congress at this juncture will be unreasonable. At best, it should take the election gauntlet of the Congress as pre-mediated. In the same way, the position of the Left must be respected for opposing the nuclear deal. It is just unfortunate that elections may be the only answer and therefore the Left should not blame the Congress if at all mid-term election does take place. More so, no one will be in doubt that the Left, if it does withdraw support, will be doing so as it opposes the operationalization of the deal. And for the Congress, because it has in principle agreed to sign the deal, it would not make sense not to proceed to the next logical step, which is to formally approach the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). With major differences between the Left and the Congress and the consequent stand-off creating a logjam in the smooth functioning of the government, a mid-term election appears to be a necessary evil and the only alternate option for the government to take.
At the end of the day, elections will mean that everyone will get an equal platform to inform, educate and communicate to the masses. And the fact that both the Left and the Congress have their own viewpoints will only help reinforce the democratic process of peaceful change and reordering of their support base. Just as the Left would say that its opposition to the nuclear deal with the US was a principled position which cannot be compromised, similarly, the Congress will have its own rationale to sell the nuclear deal to the people of India. Neither the Left nor the Congress should complain about the political consequence/s that may follow for their respective stand on the nuclear deal. Democratic elections and voting—with whatever drawbacks it may possess—is also rare time to give recognition to the fact that the only legitimate source of power for government is the people themselves. And if the present Indo-US nuclear deal requires the consent of the electorate, it is a healthy sign for democracy itself.
