The WikiLeaks expose has proved a headache to several countries in the world, including the United States. It has now come out with some fresh expose, which have added to the woes of the Manmohan Singh government. Although these expose are self-contradictory, which make their veracity doubtful, yet they have created a new problem for the government, which already was under constant attacks by the opposition.
The fresh expose by the WikiLeaks relate to the first term of the United Progressive Alliance government. When the Left Front withdrew support to the then Manmohan Singh government in 2008 on the issue of the India-US civilian nuclear deal, the government, alleges the WikiLeaks, paid bribes to several MPs to get their votes in favor of the confidence motion, and to prove its majority on the floor of the house. The relations between the Manmohan Singh government and the Left Front had soured over the India-US civilian nuclear deal.
The strong objection and opposition to the deal by the Left and withdrawal of its support, led to the apprehension of a midterm election. The government had to work hard to win the majority to its side in the Lok Sabha (lower house of Parliament). In the end, the government was saved. During a trust vote, it usually happens that parties accuse one another of getting vote by paying money. The same happened in this case too. The opposition including the Left accused the government of buying votes to save itself. During 2008, opposition parties had flashed wades of currency notes in Parliament claiming that they have been paid by the government to buy votes in favor of the trust motion.
Constitution of Joint Parliamentary Committee
A Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was then constituted to probe the issue, which, in its report, brought the issue to an end. The WikiLeaks information has yet again resurrected the dead issue. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) even went so far as to demand the resignation of the prime minister. The most important aspect of the issue is that the government has refused either to confirm or to deny the latest revelation by WikiLeaks.
According to WikiLeaks, the then US Charge’D Affairs in India Peter Burleigh conveyed to Washington that the BJP’s opposition to the nuclear deal was merely 'public posturing' and its leaders, including L.K. Advani, were 'assuring American officials privately that they were fine with it.'
Double Standard of BJP
Interestingly, Advani, in his blog, attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for maintaining that his government and the Congress stood vindicated against the allegations about 'cash for votes' by the 2009 General Election verdict.
The BJP leader also commended fellow party leader and former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh for attacking India’s foreign policy tilt towards the US. But not a word is there about the latest WikiLeaks cables.
Meanwhile, the Congress, which had borne the brunt of Opposition attacks because of WikiLeaks cables, appeared clearly pleased with the latest expose. The party wasted no time in scoring brownie points over arch rival BJP, asking the saffron party to apply to itself the same standards it had adopted for the government when it was disrupting Parliament over the past few days.
The government maintains that since the issue relates to the last Parliament and it mentions the correspondence of a sovereign country, the United States and its mission in Delhi, it cannot be discussed. It says the mission enjoys immunity under diplomatic rules and the messages referred to by WikiLeaks can neither be confirmed nor denied. Clearly, the opposition is not satisfied with the clarification made by the government. These parties claim that since the crime has been committed within the borders of the country and Indians were involved in the crime, the government should come out clean on it.
Matter of Conjecture
It is a matter of conjecture, which way the wind will blow, consequent on the confrontation between the opposition and the government on the WikiLeaks expose. The statement made by Ajit Singh in this connection could be a matter of great solace to the government. Ajit Singh has refuted the charge of vote for money against his party in the Parliament. He said he had categorically announced to vote against the government, which his party men did.
Howver, former Union minister and a Congress party leader, Satish Sharma claims that Nachiketa Kapoor, mentioned in the expose by WikiLeaks, as his personal secretary, had never been his personal secretary. Clearly, there are several contradictions in the WikiLeaks expose. It, however, proves how greatly the United States is interested in the internal affairs of India and what kind of relations are there between the United Progressive Alliance government and the United States. For the opposition, this facet of the expose is no less important indeed. It appears that until the elections for the five state assemblies are over, the government would have to continue to face strong attacks from the opposition.
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