What India Thinks, Part I: 'No elections please' | 'UPA will survive' | 'I feel sorry for Dr Singh' | 'The Left's attitude is stupid'

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Ignatius Gonsalves, former director, Manorama School of Communication, Kottayam, Kerala [Images]

I don't think anything will happen. The Left has no political option. There is no threat to the government. They will find a honourable way out. If the National Democratic Alliance decides to bring a vote of no confidence then the Left will have to take a definite stand. The Left will end up losing face.

The Left has to support the government. We have to learn from the US in the current world scenario. What has happened to our neighbour can happen to us. Once they have used you for their purposes the US is very capable of throwing you out. You should not close your eyes to this possibility. We have to be very careful with our relations with the US.

The Left are contradicting themselves. They are changing the goalposts. First, they had 9 to 10 objections. Now they want to throw the deal itself out. I don't know what they want. The real motive is something else.

One cannot tolerate the double standards of the Left. In India no one knows what can happen. In the US it is debated by the Congress and the President. Here an Indian minister goes to any country and signs an agreement, no one is informed. There is no transparency.

Where energy is concerned we need that deal. We need nuclear power. We have to make a deal with the US. If we want to maintain a 10 per cent growth we will definitely need the power. It is a compulsion. We have to end our isolation.

No one is ready for an election including the Bharatiya Janata Party. You cannot go to the people with this issue.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] might resign. He has put so much effort into this deal. He is not a regular politician that we are used to in this country. He might be made the scapegoat.

Finding a replacement for Manmohan Singh will not be easy. You might suggest Pranab Mukherjee but will Sharad Pawar [Images] agree? The Left might want their man. Remember Jyoti Basu's comment about a historic blunder.

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Jaspal Singh, businessman, Srinagar [Images]

The Left threat to the government is unfortunate.

Dr Singh heads a democratically elected government and he is empowered to negotiate deals with other countries.

The prime minister has been doing a good job, strengthening the economy and there is no need for him to step down. He is honest and straightforward which is a very rare quality among present day politicians.

Snap polls would not be a solution as that would mean a huge burden and create economic stability as you know the stock markets are in a tizzy this time.

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Mohammed Mukarram, MBBS student, Deccan College of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad

The Left parties are fully justified in holding out the threat to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to cancel the 123 Agreement with the US or resign. The deal is not in favour of India. It is completely one-sided, favouring the US. The US has built up a large arsenal of nuclear weapons for its safety and defense. But they (the Americans) say we cannot make nuclear weapons anymore. US strategic interests demand that other countries should not become powerful and America should remain the only superpower.

Manmohan Singh may feel that India's financial status and economic conditions will improve by making a deal with the US.

But the US by making India sign the 123 Agreement wants to ensure that India does not make nuclear weapons.

Our prime minister may be thinking that by having good relations with the US, he can isolate Pakistan. But the US, by tricking India into signing the nuclear deal, wants to help Pakistan to fight India over Kashmir. The major threat to the US stems from China, India and North Korea.

So, they want to cap the nuclear weapons programme in India and North Korea.

The prime minister should have consulted the Left parties, the NDA and other parties and taken the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha into confidence before finalising this agreement. He should have taken public opinion on the issue. Just because he is prime minister, he cannot take crucial decisions on his own. This is a democratic country. He should have consulted everybody.

The prime minister must have thought that this agreement may lead to better economic relations, more trade, more visas for students and IT professionals and more World Bank aid. But the US will benefit more by building better economic relations with India. It wants to drain India of its brains.

Whether the current crisis leads to mid-term polls depends on the Left parties. In these days of coalition politics, mid-term polls may throw up similar results. No party is satisfied in a coalition set-up. Anyway, both the Congress and BJP-led coalition governments have the same complexion. There is no basic change between them.

The prime minister can stay on if he scraps the agreement since there will be no harm to India then. Or he must resign as the treaty does not benefit India in any way.

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Bansi Lal, bank employee, Srinagar

The India-US nuclear deal will ensure uninterrupted nuclear fuel supply to the country and address the huge power problem here.

The prime minister has every lawful right to enter into deals and agreements with other countries and the Left is trying to run the government through remote control, which is a bluff. Dr Singh must call it now before it is too late.

Yes, if the snap poll is inevitable because of the Left's withdrawal of support, the Congress must face the challenge. I cannot understand how can India be in a reverse gear now, when it is already set to play a greater role in the global economy.

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Anjaiah Goud, milkman, Pongara Kalan village near Hyderabad

I have been watching this on the television channels. The Left parties' threat to the Congress-led UPA government is not fair. I do not know much about this agreement with America but why should the Congress government go in for this agreement if it is against our country? The government cannot do anything wrong.

There should not be snap polls because it will only mean wastage of money. We have another one-and-a-half-years to go for the term of the present Lok Sabha to end. The elections should be held on schedule only.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is a good man. He is a learned man. He should not be removed. He should be allowed to remain in power.

Interviews conducted by Mukhtar Ahmad, Syed Amin Jafri and A Ganesh Nadar