Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took his coalition government to the edge of the political abyss last week in an attempt to go ahead with the heavily contested Indo-US nuclear co-operation agreement. He emerged victorious, but it is perturbing that a matter on which hinges the energy-security of some of the most deprived people in the world should be debased to the extent of being decided by the horse trading that India's head count politics entails.
Dr Singh handled the complex game of brinkmanship with a mettle few thought he possessed. He faced the triple challenge of Communist partners who give him a parliamentary majority, his own Congress party hankering for power at any price, and an opposition jealous of the political capital the ruling coalition will make if the agreement is activated.
The Communists, indoctrinated in an ideology unthinkingly transplanted in Asia with disastrous effects for millions, object on ideological grounds because the agreement will forge links with the United States. Compounding matters were elements of Dr Singh's Congress party who, faced with an ultimatum to drop the nuclear agreement or lose the left's support, preferred to sacrifice energy security for the sake of a few more months in power.
Elections are due early next year and if the Communists pull the rug now, Dr Singh may have to go to the polls sooner. He responded by announcing he was going to resign if his party did not rise to the left's challenge. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Congress backed him and negotiated with other parties for parliamentary support.
The opposition Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which initiated the negotiations when it was in power, was unwilling to talk, not because it opposes the deal but because it wants the credit for clinching it. Instead of supporting and seeing through what is actually a vision that crosses party-political lines, the BJP hopes to return to power in the next elections - and take the glory.
Dr Singh turned to the middle-of-the-road Samajwadi Party to offset the imminent loss of Communist votes. The new alliance gives a majority of four - slight, but enough to proceed with discussions with the IAEA about India-specific safeguards and engage the Nuclear Suppliers Group. The US has been shepherding India's talks with both. Once completed, India will become a participant in the worldwide commerce of nuclear technology and materials. It will be the crowning glory of Dr Singh's term as prime minister.