From CIA, with love

The US has the uncanny ability of turning most allies into its pet poodles. The  challenge is before India: will it start looking at all major global developments through the American prism, or continue to pursue an independent foreign policy?

Pranay Sharma Delhi

Growing up in the streets of Calcutta in the 1960s, it was difficult to ignore a much used three-letter word, 'CIA'. For reasons real and imaginary, the American intelligence agency, better known by its acronym, was perceived to be the most powerful organisation. For almost all failures and behind all conspiracies, there was the CIA. Later, a new word was added to our political lexicon, "the foreign hand". Clearly, those were the heydays of the Cold War and to a pre-dominantly 'Left-of-Centre' populace, it was easily acceptable to find the US as the most convenient scapegoat. This may have been particularly true of Bengal, but the same argument, to varying degrees, was used by most Indian politicians all over the country.

It is significant that at a time when India celebrates the 60th anniversary of its Independence, the US has yet again taken the centre- stage of the Indian political debate. The present crisis that the Congress-led UPA government faces may be over the India-US nuclear deal. But it is not about the merits of the deal, it pertains to a much larger debate — the future of India's foreign policy. The fears expressed by the Left, and shared by many others in the country, are basically about the 'hidden cost' that India may have to pay for its new-found friendship with the Americans.

The Indian polity, particularly its elite, has undergone a fundamental change in the past two decades. The weakening of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and its disintegration later diluted the 'Left-of-Centre' position that most opinion and policy-makers in India held earlier. The generation that grew up drawing inspiration from Vietnam and raising slogans in favour of the 'Viet-Congs' for their 'heroic fight against US Imperialism' is today gone. The Vietnamese leadership is now actively wooing the Americans for investment in the country and to ward off China's growing economic and political clout in the region. There is a growing opinion among the Indian elite that the country's future is integral to aligning with the US. For obvious reasons, many of them trash the Left parties for being the 'party-poopers'. They blame the Left for spoiling the fun and celebrations of what was to be India's moment of glory — the successful completion of the 123 agreement that allows civilian nuclear cooperation between India and the US.

But instead of condemning the Left parties, let us pause and reflect on their attempt to focus on a very important issue that requires a national debate. One can argue that similar debates should have taken place on issues like the Bombay riots, the implementation of the Srikrishna Commission report, the regular attacks on Muslims in Gujarat and other places of the country, the growing landlessness among small and marginal farmers, the unabated suicides of agricultural workers and farmers, the growing unemployment, the lack of proper health and education facilities for large number of people in India. These were the traditional demands of the Left and these were the issues that they had fought for in the past.