N-deal: NRIs brief US policymakers
Sandeep Phukan, Saturday, March 22, 2008 (New Delhi)
NDTV.com

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will begin a three-day visit to the US on Sunday, where he is expected to brief the US officials about the ongoing political negotiations on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

However, Non Resident Indians (NRIs) are not waiting for any official briefing. A powerful NRI lobby, United States India Political Action Committee (USINPAC), has already started the process of briefing US policymakers about the political process in India.

Washington-based businessman Robinder Sachdev is still meeting people in India to hard sell the Indo-US nuclear deal.

As a member of the USINPAC, he lobbied hard with American senators and Congressmen to push for the deal. But early this week, the UPA government decided it's not yet ready to give the final go-ahead.
So, now he's back to explaining the Indian political process to the US policymakers.

''We don't want them to say, look here, the nuclear deal was very close to happening but then something happened and we can't figure it out,'' said Robinder Sachdev, Co-Founder, USINPAC.

These lobbyists have also met Left leaders in India.

''When they met me I tried to explain our perception of the deal that the Left is not unreasonable,'' said D Raja, CPI Secretary.

If this deal doesn't go through, will India get a good deal the next time? ''Either it will be as good as this one or no deal at all,'' said Sachdev.

Indian Americans would hope that the Indo-US nuclear deal finally goes through, but in case it doesn't, there's always a next time.