The Left Front has decided to withdraw its support for the UPA government over the Indo-US nuclear deal. Will the government collapse? Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is busy schmoozing with G-8 leaders in Japan, seems nonchalant about it:
Asked if the withdrawal of Communist support would affect his government, the prime minister, while coming out of a meeting of the five Outreach nations (China, Brazil, South Africa, and Mexico besides India) remarked: "I don't think it will affect the stability of the government."Actually no one in Congress seems all that concerned about the Left Front withdrawing its support, which indicates one of two things: Congress is either stupid; or they have lined up support from other parties in Parliament. Personally, I think it's the latter since Congress is insisting on a confidence vote before going to the IAEA.
Asked when the government will go to the IAEA, a point on which the Left has pulled out parliamentary support, he said: "As soon as possible."
These seem to have been minor distractions for the resolute prime minister who, according to Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, made no change in his programme due to the political crisis back home that kept the media here agog.
Whatever the result, the Left Front's brinkmanship will blow up in their faces. They have proved again their anti-Indian ethos. Nitin is right when he says:
It should now remain for the Indian voter to give the Communists the drubbing they deserve. Somewhere, one of history’s dustbins is waiting for them.
