Now opinion is gaining ground among sections of the Congress leaders for a similar policy intervention by the Party chief. It is about the growing impression among the middle classes that the UPA has been increasingly jettisoning national interests to appease the foreign business. Many view this as a serious matter affecting the public mood. These sections in the Congress believe that the issue is no more confined to the foreign or economic policies, considered largely beyond the party's chief's interests. Consider the UPA government's failure to safeguard the interests of Bhopal gas tragedy victims and the impatience with which it is trying to help the foreign nuclear suppliers get away in similar situations.

When a nuclear accident takes place, and no one can assure these will not happen, it can kill tens of thousands and damage the health of future generations. There is growing realization that such issues affecting the life of millions around the proposed nuclear plants should not be left to be decided by officials and experts. The compromise on the nuclear liability bill is a classic case. Instead of ensuring adequate provision for compensation and relief to the victims, the UPA's liability bill totally exempts the American nuclear suppliers from paying damages. Instead the whole burden is put solely on the public sector operators.

The well established 'polluter pays' principle is being ignored to safeguard the foreign suppliers' interests at the cost of the radiation victims. The government's own obligation to help the victims is kept at ridiculously low levels. The bill makes the operator's right of recourse against the suppliers extremely limited. It also seeks to foreclose any scope for recourse to the ordinary tort laws even in the case of fault-based claims. As against this, countries like Germany and Russia have inserted rigorous safeguards.

The prevailing logic is that foreign investment and espousal of Washington consensus should supersede all other concerns. India's dominant business associations have advocated the 'investment first' rule and asked the government to accept all of the foreigners' conditionalities. The belief is so overwhelming that any one questioning the inadequacy of the safeguards to meet the requirements of a nuclear accident is dismissed as obstructers or interested politicians. So much so we are devoid of any honest public debate on the virtues of the nuclear liability bill. Sadly, those who attempt any serious dissection of its provisions get scant public space. The kid glove treatment meted out to the then UCC chief Anderson and the refusal to pin down on the culprits stems from such misplaced beliefs.

Former foreign secretary M.K. Rasgotra has revealed the whole episode that had led to the safe exit of the perpetrators of the Bhopal tragedy. The same fixation made us to prevaricate while the whole world protested against the Israeli attack on the relief ship. We had displayed so much bravado over interrogating US double agent Headley but had to content with a pre-submitted questionnaire and without having allowed to tape or video-record the inquest. On the other, we had given a totally free hand to the FBI in the case of the Mumbai attacker. Some six years back, a senior officer of the RAW, found working for the US, had escaped and got shelter in that country. It is not that he has not been located. But the government chose not to displease Washington.

Imagine what might have happened had the reverse occurred. Watch the way India agreed in April last to fulfill a set of demands put forth by the US. This was done irrespective of whether these suit our own economic interests and meet the demands of reciprocation. The deadline for the pledge is Obama's forthcoming November visit. Among them are FDI in retail and insurance, some thing we have been resisting all the while. India will also agree to massive US investments in the $600 billion infrastructure programme covering highways, ports, airports and energy and mobile banking. It is feared that all this will have the potential of creating a crony image.

The situation looks so similar to the 'feel-good' days of 2004 when the whole nation seemed swept away by the NDA government's well planned public campaign. But it burst on the counting day. This is what the Congress establishment should worry about. The void between the virtual reality and media's opinion build-up, however impregnable it may seem, can often be so disastrous. In India, there is no fool-proof model to gauge the public mood that remains so scattered in different vote banks. For the government, three factors tend to give some comfort. These are the unanimity among the top three, favourable public opinion build-up and the lack of organized campaign by the main opposition.

The latter makes formal protests but, for reasons best know to them, avoids public campaign. Thus the task of protest campaign is left to a weakened Left and the NGOs. Enough attention has not been given to the quantum jump in the NGO's working in public sphere. Over a decade and half, they have come of age. You cannot any more dismiss them as mere charity organizations surviving on foreign donations. Many of the new age NGOs are led by eminent academicians and highly respected activists and social workers. At another level, the NGOs have also filled the vacuum left by the vanishing tribe of Nehruvians within the Congress party.

They enjoy greater credibility and hence have considerable public support. We may love to ignore them but it was they who had fought some of the most crucial battles in recent past, including the one against the Bt. brinjal. No more can the ruling elite ignore the NGO's role in influencing the public mood. Sonia Gandhi has of late intervened in matters not directly connected with the aam aadmi. One of these was the ill-fated Sharm-al-Sheikh joint statement. Now she has insisted on specific amendments to the communal violence bill. So the party establishment always has the right to counsel caution whenever the government is seen as straying away. (IPA Service)