MANIPAL, India, April 7 (UPI) -- If his
July 18, 2005 deal with U.S. President George W. Bush is implemented, Indian
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will ensure that India would never, at least in
the next half-century, rival China as a technological or military superpower.
The act of scientific strangulation in
the Singh-Bush nuclear agreement would rapidly push India downwards to the
level of Lesotho and Botswana in nuclear and missile science. After half a
century of protecting its nuclear technology, the country would slide into the
category of "recipient countries" explicitly marked out for it by
Bush. As such, India would no longer be permitted to even reprocess uranium on
its own, but would have to depend on "advanced countries" such as
Japan and Germany for this essential process. Ironically, at present India is
far ahead of both in nuclear science.
Just as others did before him, Manmohan
Singh has made the mistake of believing the temporary backing of the U.S.
bureaucracy to be sufficient protection from the angry reaction of his own
people, once the consequences of his actions become clear. However, in this
case, the price for such misdeeds is likely to be paid not by Singh personally
but by the Congress Party, which will henceforward be seen as having betrayed
its nationalist past.