The various Bhavans – Shastri, Rail, Shram, Udyog and others – are where India's vast bureaucracy of finance, railways, labour, industry, etc, does the staff -work to run the country. It is at the politicians' Lutyens bungalows where deals are struck, governments made and unmade, and where corporate honchos pay quiet visits to politicians. It is over tea and drinks at the India International Centre that serving and retired diplomats, and editors discuss affairs of the state, push policy and shape elite opinions. A stroll away is the India Habitat Centre, which is the hub of think tanks and associations that deal with government and industry, with politics and economics, and provide policy inputs. In early July, these power corridors were all abuzz with the implications of a foreign-policy issue on domestic politics. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh decided to go ahead with the India-US civilian nuclear deal, and moved to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for approval. His left-front allies, vociferous in their opposition to the deal, withdrew their support to the governing Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) coalition.
Prime Minister Singh was left banking on the support of a major regional party to retain a majority in the house. Irrespective of whether the deal goes through or the government survives, India's global aspirations had never been clearer. Never before had an Indian prime minister staked his government on an issue related to India's relations with the US, and its place in the international order.
Yet even as India's engagement with the West took centre stage, the attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, killing more than 40, including an Indian diplomat and defence attache, was a stark reminder to New Delhi about its troubled Southasian neighbourhood. There are unstable countries all around, which could have multiple spill-over effects in India. National Security Advisor M K Narayanan blamed Pakistan for the attack, indicating how deep-rooted was the distrust remaining between these two large countries. The Kabul bombing also confirmed the view of a section of the policy elite in New Delhi that India was an oasis of calm amidst the violence all around.
