CONGRESS LEADERS CRITICIZE NUCLEAR DEAL AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 NEW DELHI 001101 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR S, D, P, T, SCA, ISN NSC FOR HADLEY E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/06/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV PINR ECON KISL KDEM KNNP PARM IN SUBJECT: CONGRESS LEADERS CRITICIZE NUCLEAR DEAL AND ECONOMIC REFORM AS ELECTORAL LIABILITIES REF: A. NEW DELHI 979 ¶B. NEW DELHI 975 ¶C. NEW DELHI 973 ¶D. NEW DELHI 1049 ¶E. NEW DELHI 413 NEW DELHI 00001101 001.2 OF 005 Classified By: Ambassador David C. Mulford for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Following a string of electoral defeats in Bihar, Mumbai, Uttarakhand, and Punjab, the most influential voices in the Delhi cocktail circuit as well as some of our most insightful political contacts in the states are telling us with one voice that Sonia Gandhi and her personal advisors are scared silly that the impending Uttar Pradesh elections will turn out horribly for Congress. As a result, some are advocating that she jettison Manmohan Singh -- whose message of rapprochement with Pakistan has been criticized by the BJP -- and put a more steady political hand at the head of the government. Others are urging that the Congress hunker down and play it safe on the budget, inflation, economic reform, and foreign policy -- including the nuclear deal -- to minimize the negative impact on UP voters, many of whom are Muslim and take a dim view of the U.S. ¶2. (C) What seems clear in the aftermath of recent polls is that the reform cadre of Manmohan Singh, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and PC Chidambram are politically diminished, Sonia Gandhi's inner coterie is deeply worried, and the old line Congress and their Communist fellow-travelers are empowered. The internal politics in India are a mess right now for Congress, and while the GOI is still sticking to the high road on the nuclear deal, it is clearly caught in a domestic political eddy. With no hope in sight that Congress will take any risks before UP polling ends May 11, we are lending credence to observers who tell us the GOI will happily engage in the perception of progress on the nuclear deal -- including discussions and visits -- but no decisions can happen until after UP elections end on May 11. Even after UP votes, the political intrigue will still continue, and may even intensify. Given India's "war-without-end" political climate, the only way to move the nuclear deal forward may be to make a decisive play at the senior political level. END SUMMARY. Congress Reeling; Manmohan Singh Diminished -------------- ¶3. (C) Recent Congress electoral defeats in Bihar, Mumbai, Uttarakhand, and Punjab have sent a shock wave through India's political establishment (Refs A and B). Congress has been severely shaken up and the political high command now expects to lose badly in upcoming elections in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and Delhi. Rising inflation rates have hit the common man particularly hard, and no less an authority than the PM's media and politics advisor, Sanjaya Baru, told DCM that many in the Opposition NEW DELHI 00001101 002.2 OF 005 are blaming Congress economic policies (as personified by PM Manmohan Singh, Deputy Planning Commissioner Montek Singh Ahluwalia, and Finance Minister PC Chidambram) for the price increases. In India, where half of the population enjoys no disposable income or savings to fall back on, any increase in prices for basic commodities (particularly foodstuffs such as onions),causes severe hardship. The resulting resentment is usually directed at the party in power when inflation spikes. Our contacts added that the PM's critics in Congress are complaining that Manmohan Singh, a Sikh, did nothing for the party's prospects even in Punjab, India's sole Sikh-majority state. Fearful of further electoral losses in the runup to Parliamentary elections in 2009, Baru told the DCM, Congress is likely to continue to go slow on economic reforms and concentrate on political threats from the BJP and the Left. Such a posture, he worried, would result in a serious shrinkage of Manmohan Singh's maneuvering room. Playing it Safe -------------- ¶4. (C) Facing a serious threat from the opposition, an even more cautious Congress is likely to put any measure it deems controversial on hold, out of fear of alienating Indian public opinion, particularly among Muslims in UP, who represent a critical Congress vote bloc. Further progress in the India/US Civil Nuclear Accord and other elements of India/US policy could also become casualties of this change of direction. According to Rajasthan BJP MLA Vishnu Modi, who is as refined a political analyst as we've ever met here, the Congress and the BJP will both get slaughtered in UP, with the only question being whether Mulayam or Mayawati wins. If Mayawati wins, she will ally with Congress to seek protection from legal troubles. A big Mulayam victory, however, might embolden him and the Left Front to try for a Third Front government in Delhi. BJP Newly Emboldened -------------- ¶5. (C) The opposition BJP has spent nearly three years in the political wilderness following its 2004 defeat. The recent string of electoral victories have rejuvenated the party, which is gaining confidence that it can unseat Congress in 2009. BJP ideologues have downplayed the impact of inflation, historic trends in favor of anti-incumbency, and Congress disorganization/poor campaigning and have attributed party successes instead to its anti-terrorism, anti-inflation agenda, and are calling for more of the same. Inflation provides the party with a ready-made political issue, and it will take maximum advantage of this opportunity to attack the ruling party. (Note: Inflation has moderated since a 2-year high in early February and is expected to decline further on the back of recent monetary and fiscal measures. This provides Congress with some defense to what is likely a weakening charge. End note.) The BJP has downplayed the deep divisions that still plague the party and could still sabotage future electoral NEW DELHI 00001101 003.2 OF 005 campaigns. Despite BJP wishful thinking, the party's internal sense of political momentum may help it to do a little better in Uttar Pradesh, and the party might even succeed in Delhi municipal elections, where the onion prices and ham-handed zoning enforcement have voters angry with Congress Chief Minister Sheila Dixit. We will analyze political trends within the BJP septel. Left Biding Its Time -------------- ¶6. (C) Congress is likely to dismiss BJP criticism of the UPA budget (septel) as pro-forma behavior expected of an opposition party. Left Front (LF) criticism is more worrisome. Now that the BJP/NDA opposition has become energized, Congress needs LF support more than ever to meet expected BJP challenges and provide political stability. In an effort to gain that support, Congress modestly increased funding for some populist measures in the budget, but these failed to mollify the Communists, who continued to decry the UPA budget as "anti-people." A BJP MP told us the Communists are telling him they expect to roll back some of the modest reform measures in the recently promulgated budget. This suggests that the Communists, sensing their increasing power, may be willing to up the ante and make more economic demands in exchange for providing continued political support to the UPA. While Jockeying for Position -------------- ¶7. (C) The Communists (and their supporters in the Left wing of Congress) have cast recent Congress defeats as evidence that "anti-people" economic policies are being rejected by the common man. However, the Communists must also worry about a rejuvenation of the dreaded "Hindu fascists" in the BJP. They will continue to watch BJP fortunes closely. As the 2009 elections draw near, Communist determination to keep the BJP out of power will increase. Should the BJP upsurge "cross the line" and it appear that they could return to power in New Delhi, the LF may be more willing to work with Congress to keep a "secular" government in power. Unfortunately for Congress, if the BJP looks weaker after this surge, the LF may still go ahead and try to make its own play for power using a Frankenstein's monster of ideological and regional parties to challenge both the Congress and the BJP. A key barometer of the Left's ability to do so will be after the UP election, when the race for President heats up. The BJP is backing Vice President Bhairon Singh Sekhawat, Congress wants Karan Singh, and the Left wants Parliament Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. Economic Reform Stuck -------------- ¶8. (C) We expect the net new impact of a strengthened BJP and LF on economic policy-making at the center to be minor. As detailed in Ref D, the UPA coalition has been too NEW DELHI 00001101 004.2 OF 005 weak since its inception in 2004 to launch significant, controversial reforms, such as labor laws or subsidies. Congress is likely to continue its efforts at gradual reform and look for areas of least resistance, such as January's announced modest financial sector reforms (Ref E) that implemented individual elements of larger legislation, in areas the Left did not oppose, yet are still important steps forward in deepening the financial sector. In many ways, the focus of reform is shifting to the states, especially their control over agriculture and public investment, where these parties have the chance to deliver (or not) real economic benefits. Putting a Brave Public Face on Nuclear Deal -------------- ¶9. (C) With the Congress hierarchy unwilling to take bold steps, especially those that make it seem aligned with the U.S. and open it to criticism from the Left, completing the remaining steps on the nuclear deal has hit an air pocket despite government attempts to paint a positive picture. Special Envoy Shyam Saran told a visiting U.S.-India Business Council delegation of nuclear representatives in a March 5 meeting that the Indian government planned to complete the IAEA safeguards agreement and Nuclear Suppliers Group exception in order for the U.S. to submit a completed 123 Agreement to Congress by the end of the year. He notably refrained from discussing sensitive 123 issues, and only mentioned reprocessing consent rights when asked about the arrangement that Russia has established for the Kudankulam reactors. Vijay Sazawal of the uranium supply firm USEC noted that their meeting with Saran was far more upbeat than a similar discussion in November 2005. Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon gave a similarly SIPDIS optimistic viewpoint in a March 5 meeting with the Council on Foreign Relations, and also avoided the troublesome issues of testing and reprocessing. Menon expressed confidence the deal would be carried to completion, and highlighted how our success so far has brought our governments much closer together. More Worrisome: Nuclear Deal Stuck -------------- ¶10. (C) In contrast, well-placed Indian contacts such as Asian Age editor M.J. Akbar, former Ambassador to the U.S. Shankar Bajpai, commentators Saeed Naqvi and Pratap Bhanu Mehta, and political gadfly Subramanyam Swamy privately told A/PolCouns that the Congress Party defeats have induced the party leadership and the inner coterie to stall the 123 Agreement. More worryingly, Marshall Bouton, director of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, reported that an unnamed government official had suggested an 18-month freeze on civil nuclear discussions. Whether Congress will wait even three months -- after the May 11 announcement of UP election results -- remains to be seen. As for India's foreign policy, Menon told the CFR that they oppose an Iranian nuclear weapon, would vote again in our favor at the IAEA if NEW DELHI 00001101 005.2 OF 005 pressed to do so, but found the prospect of U.S. military action deeply unsettling with severe domestic political repercussions. Unsaid, but likely correct, is the deeply held hope in Congress that they do not have to make any decisions on Iran during the UP election cycle, in which many vitally important Shia votes are at stake. COMMENT: Stuck in a Political Eddy -------------- ¶11. (C) COMMENT: Our most insightful political contacts all agreed -- across separate conversations -- that the nuclear deal is stuck in a powerful domestic political eddy. Unless Sonia Gandhi can be convinced that the deal's successful conclusion would gain her votes in UP, the Congress leadership will not invest significant political capital in moving it forward. Rajiv Desai has clearly told us the locus of Congress decision-making rests with Sonia Gandhi. The PMO's Baru stressed Manmohan Singh and his reformer colleagues have been damaged in the eyes of the political king-makers of the Congress, and they will need help to un-stick the nuclear deal. With Congress facing elections in April in Delhi, May in UP, and this fall in Gujarat, and with rumors swirling of early Jammu and Kashmir elections and possibly even national elections, the Congress high command has become totally risk averse. With our own Presidential election also getting an early start, the nuclear negotiations may be stuck in our respective political eddies for quite some time to come if we do not succeed in convincing the PM, Narayanan, and Saran to make it move now. Given India's "war-without-end" political climate, the only way to move the nuclear deal forward may be to make a decisive play at the senior political level. END COMMENT. MULFORD