Once the pro-India lawmakers set out to draft the enabling legislation, concerns began to creep on the Indian side. The Opposition and the Left posed a few tough questions to the government. The government had to give the answers. Apart from Nicholas Burns' input, somebody had to keep them posted. Ronen Sen, India's ambassador to the US, fit the bill perfectly.
Sen visited New Delhi, keeping the establishment posted on the changes that were being incorporated in the bill. He reinforced the arguments of chief negotiator Burns.
He convinced the government that the final bill hammered out by the House-Senate conferees was 'tweaked' to the extent that it also addressed New Delhi's major concerns and removed any conditions imposed upon India -- either perceived or contained in the House and Senate bills and replaced by presidential reporting requirements.
The most important role that Sen, himself a member of the Atomic Energy Commission in the late 1980s -- played was in clarifying that the fast breeder reactors will not be affected by the nuclear deal.
This came in handy for the Indian government to win over the sceptical among the scientist fraternity, who were very protective about the fast breeder reactors.
US Ambassador to India David Mulford, meanwhile, made the right noises and acted as a perfect go between for the two countries.
Image: Ambassadors Ronen Sen and David C Mulford
Photographs: Kiran Jagga and Manpreet Ramona/AFP/Getty Images
Also read: 'No evidence that India has transferred lethal weapons to Iran'
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