India's ruling coalition faces severe internal disagreements over a far-reaching nuclear deal with the United States, and forcing a vote too soon could prove a "gesture in futility," a top spokesman for the Indian government's leading party said yesterday.
The U.S. government is pushing hard to clinch the deal before President Bush leaves office in January, but Abhishek Singhvi, spokesman for India's Congress party, said on a visit to Washington that a premature vote could bring down the government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"We are even willing to stake the survival of the government on a matter of principle," Mr. Singhvi said at the end of a three-day visit to Washington.
"But if you sacrifice the government and still do not get the deal, what you have is death without martyrdom," he said. "It would be a gesture in futility."
Communist parties that vote with the government are staunchly opposed to the nuclear deal, saying it infringes on India's sovereignty. Mr. Singh has so far declined to press for a final vote for fear his government will collapse.
President Bush hailed the August 2007 accord as a major opportunity for U.S. exporters and an opening to build a much broader strategic and political alliance with one of the world's rising powers.
At its core, the deal would give New Delhi access to now-forbidden U.S. nuclear fuel and technology in return for allowing international oversight and inspection of India's civilian nuclear industry. India's military nuclear programs would not be covered by the deal.
Many U.S. critics saw the deal as highly favorable to India, but the accord has been unexpectedly caught up in a fierce political debate in New Delhi.
