THE ghost of former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi must be dancing away in her grave at Rajghat in New Delhi. Over three decades after she sanctioned the first nuclear bomb test at Pokhran in 1974 – and shocked the world – India has finally been recognized as a member of the global club of nuclear-armed states.
The recognition however comes with a heavy price tag – one that requires the Indian state to assume duties as a junior partner in the service of US Imperialism, giving up all pretences of being a sovereign and independent nation.
Announcement of the de facto membership came in July this year during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington where a joint statement with US President George W. Bush declared that the U.S. would now “work with friends and allies to adjust international regimes to enable full civil nuclear energy and trade with India.”
31 years ago the US had walked out of a nuclear cooperation agreement with India because of the Pokhran nuclear test. At that time India was seen as an upstart third world nation trying to barge into the global nuclear club that included only five established nuclear weapon states (NWS) – the US, UK, France, China and the former Soviet Union. All five crossed the atomic threshold before 1967 while India became a self-declared NWS only in 1998, when the BJP government carried out the second Pokhran nuclear test.
Significantly, the US has maintained a studious silence on demands from Pakistan to be accorded the same kind of ‘cooperation’ in nuclear technology that India has now received. Obviously, with the changing global equations in the post-Cold War period, and particularly after September 11, 2001, the US has found a new slave in South Asia.
Under the agreement now signed between Bush and Singh, the U.S. has promised to sell nuclear materials and equipment to India and also to involve it in “advanced” areas of research. The new Indo-US agreement says India would “assume the same responsibilities” and “acquire the same benefits and advantages as other leading countries with advanced nuclear technology”.
Besides “working to prevent the global proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,” India would take a series of steps toward “identifying and separating civilian and military nuclear facilities and programs.”
India would also be required to file a declaration regarding its civilians facilities with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and place them under its safeguards, continue its “unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing,” and work with the U.S. for the “conclusion of a multilateral Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty.”
India would also “secure nuclear materials and technology through comprehensive export control legislation” and through “adherence to Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) guidelines,” even though it is not a member of either grouping.
Though ostensibly related to civilian uses of nuclear energy, the Indo-US deal is widely seen as a decision by the George Bush Jr. administration to recognize India as a de facto NWS, a move that has raised fears over the future of the entire global nuclear non-proliferation regime. The Indo-US deal many analysts point out is only going to spur countries like Japan, South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Sweden, and others to rethink their foreswearing of nuclear weapons thus sparking off a uncontrollable global nuclear arms race. In fact, it is expected that these countries, which are members of the NSG, will put up a stiff resistance to the US unilaterally granting nuclear power membership to India.
Significantly, the Indo-US deal on nuclear power was preceded by the signing of a “New Framework for the U.S.-India Defense Relations” by the defence ministers of the two countries a few weeks prior to Manmohan Singh’s trip to Washington.
This commits them to collaborative “multinational operations” and to strengthening their military capabilities “to promote security,” and “combat proliferation” of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). They will also have a “defense strategy” dialogue and intelligence exchanges
The so called ‘strategic partnership’ will see the two countries launch joint military operations in the future, especially in the Asian continent, and collaborate politically and diplomatically to contain China. According to US defence analysts, through this ‘partnership’, the United States would strategically “embed” itself in Asia through an alliance with India.
In return, India will probably obtain limited “benefits”, including access to U.S. arms and technology, permission to carry on with its regional imperialism in South Asia and a possible role in the US attempts to reshape the Middle East.
Politically, the United States has offered to “help India become a world power in the 21st century.” It has also dangled the carrot of endorsing India’s bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, albeit without veto power.
There is little doubt that the US recognition of India as a NWS is also part of the same basket of goodies that the US has promised India for giving up its long history of non-alignment and signing up as a loyal soldier in the ranks of US Imperialism. Given the long list of ‘US junior partners’ strewn by the wayside throughout history the future of India looks very ‘bright’ indeed.