Deal or no deal, bored Americans don't care: Zakaria

WEST SIDE VIEW: Fareed Zakaria says India should move the process further in Vienna.

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Keywords: Us Congress, Fareed Zakaria

New York: Editor of Newsweek International, Fareed Zakaria has been closely following the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal and says it is critical for India to wrap it up.

“If the nuclear deal doesn't go through, I think it limits India's ability to play a role as a major power because on a crucial issue, India will be outside the tent and always be outside the tent in a furtive status. The beauty of the nuclear deal is that it brings India into the tent, into the camp of great powers, firmly and irrevocably and that's why it's so important for the Government to grasp it, for it to be taken as a national project. There's obviously enormous economic benefits but I think at the strategic level, this is the single most important reorientation of India in the 21st century,” he says.

When asked what the sentiment in the United States was like now that the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has put his Government at risk to push the deal through, Zakaria said Americans had lost interest.

“I think, honestly, Americans have got bored and lost interest and forgotten. This is a situation that may be really too late to change public sentiment. Public sentiment, to a certain extent, was that India was offered this extraordinary opportunity and it fumbled. Now, in policy circles and elite circles, certainly people recognise that now, better late than never, this does appear to be a second chance and it would probably go through. But there was an important public relations moment that was lost. It can be recovered, nothing is lost for ever but certainly the manner in which this has been handled has been a little to hesitant to suggest any sort of great strategic leadership on India's part,” he said.

Zakaria, however, said he expected the issue to move forward. “I think there's probably enough time for Congress to ratify this and if there isn't enough time, I do believe the next Congress will take it up without reopening all the issues involved in it. Obama has said he won't seek them, McCain won't seek any further amendments,” he said.

“So I think now the ball will move forward. The Indian Government, however, should move the process further in Vienna with the International Atomic Energy Agency as fast as it can so that the train should leave the station. The United States won't be the obstacle, it has been actually the principal booster of the deal. So it wants the deal to go forward. Congressional cycles are complicated and it may take a little bit longer. My sense though, from the people I've talked to, the Senators I've talked to, they want this deal to go through. This is one of those rare occasions where there's no real difference between the Republicans and the Democrats. Everyone on this issue is pro-India,” he added.