引自纽约时报网站 http://www.nytimes.com 　　/2008/07/20/world/asia/20india.html?_r=1&ref=asia&oref=slogin Closer Ties With the United States Could Cost India's Prime Minister His Government By SOMINI SENGUPTA Published: July 20, 2008 NEW DELHI — A deepening friendship with the Bush administration has pushed the elected government of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the brink of its own demise. Now, with a confidence vote in Parliament scheduled to begin this week, the government’s scramble to stay in power and its rivals’ efforts to oust it have set off an intense and often brazen round of political bargaining. 　　印度总理曼默汉‧辛格与布希政府间的紧密关系，使得他的政府走向垮台边缘。 印度国会将於本周进行信任投票，正反两方为此展开激烈且无耻的政治交易。 The confidence vote appears to be extremely close for Mr. Singh’s Congress Party-led coalition government, and the stakes high. If the government wins a power until its five-year term ends next May. If it loses, national elections will be scheduled sooner — not an inviting prospect for an incumbent government troubled by rising food and fuel costs. 　　一般预期，信任投票结果将差距极微，代价却极高。执政联盟倘若赢得543席次中 的过半支持，将可安然完成五年任期至明年五月届满。反之，将迅速进行国会改选。 而国会改选对现在受制於油、粮价格双涨的政府而言，前景堪虞。 Indian politicians, and those who study them, remember that 10 years ago, a government led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, now the main national opposition, lost a confidence motion in Parliament by a single vote. 　　熟悉印度政界的人士相信仍然记得，现为印度主要在野党的印度人民党，十年 前就曾在国会信任投票中落败。 Inder Malhotra, a veteran political columnist here, predicted that Mr. Singh’s administration would survive or perish by only three or four votes, and that because of what he described as “dirty deals, otherwise called horse-trading.”Mr. Malhotra, who has been observing Indian politics for 60 years, said, “I have sadly to admit that never before have I witnessed a murkier scene.” 　　观察印度政治长达60年的资深专栏作家印德‧马尔赫札预测，在激烈的所谓 肮脏政治交易过後，辛格政权的存续关键可能只有三或四席的差距。他表示： 「我只能哀伤地说，从未见过比这次更黑暗的交易。」　 Consider the storm over how votes are being wooed for and against Mr. Singh. One of his new foes from the Communist Party accused his administration of trying to buy votes for more than $5 million each. The accuser offered no evidence. One of Mr. Singh’s new friends, from the regional Samajwadi Party, issued a list of proposed policies that would reward one of the party’s corporate friends. 　　之前同为执政联盟，现已反目的一位共产党政敌指控，辛格政权开价每票5百万 企图贿选，但指控者并未提供证据。另一方面，近来转向支持执政联盟的地方性政党 －社会党人士，则发表一系列政策建议，以酬谢社会党的企业界友人。 In a bid to attract three votes from a tiny regional party, the government last week renamed an airport in northern Lucknow after the party chief’s father, Charan Singh, a former Indian prime minister. “It will facilitate better take offs and landings,” the country’s finance minister, P. Chidambaram, joked Thursday, when asked why the government had changed the name now. 　　另外，为笼络地方政党，辛格政府上周以该地方政党首脑之父，也是印度前总理 查朗‧辛格（Charan Singh）为名，替陆克瑙（Lucknow）北方的一座机场命名。印度 财政部长奇达巴朗上周四被媒体询及此事时，尚且笑称：「这会让机场起降更顺利。」 Over the past several days, the national dailies have kept a running count of the votes for and against the prime minister’s Congress Party-led coalition government. “Jailbirds Out,” announced a box, above the fold, in The Times of India on Thursday. It enumerated how many members of Parliament, either convicted or charged in crimes ranging from murder to extortion, would be freed on bail to cast their vote; so far, there are six. 　　印度的全国性报纸过去几天均持续统计信任案正反面态度的票数。而印度时报 周四在头版刊出的「囚犯出笼」新闻，举出共有六位涉嫌犯罪或已被起诉的国会议 员，可能因为信任案的政治交易而获得自由，他们所犯下的罪名从谋杀到勒索不等。 On Saturday, in a potentially important blow to Prime Minister Singh, a senior Samajwadi Party leader, Shahid Siddiqui, defected and said he would vote against the government. 　　上周六，资深社会党领导人沙伊‧西迪奎（Shahid Siddiqui）脱离执政联盟并 表示将投下不信任票，对辛格带来重大威胁。 Of the 543 members of Parliament, Mr. Singh’s coalition needs at least 272 to survive. The two-day parliamentary debate and vote are scheduled to begin Monday. Exactly how many are in the pro-government column is still unclear, with speculation about whether some would defect or vote against their respective party lines, or not vote at all. The foreign minister and a veteran Congress Party leader, Pranab Mukherjee, said Friday that his party “ is not into horse-trading” and predicted that the government would survive. 　　本周一开始，印度国会将进行前後两天的辩论与投票，在总数543张有效票中， 执政联盟需要至少272票才能继续执政，但支持票数迄今未明，国会议员是否贯彻 政党决议的相关臆测颇多。印度外长暨资深国大党领导人莫科吉上周五表示，国大 党不会参与政治交易，他并预测执政联盟会顺利过关。 The governing coalition, known as the United Progressive Alliance, was cobbled together with support from several Communist parties after elections in May 2004. From the start, it was a fragile arrangement, vexed by policy disagreements on issues like fuel subsidies and privatization of state-owned companies. But perhaps the most contentious rift involved a nuclear deal initiated by the United States. 　　2004年5月选後执政的团结进步联盟，是部分共产政党支持之下成立。然而各 政党间对能源补助、国有企业民营化等政策的立场相左，使得联盟在执政之初就 显得脆弱。但导致分裂的最大因素可能来自各政党对美国提出的民用核能协议立场 分歧。 The governmnt was pushed to seek a confidence vote this month when its onetime backers from the Communist parties, with 59 votes, withdrew support, after the government announced that it would go ahead with the long-stalled nuclear accord. 　　由於掌握国会59席的共产党，在政府宣布维持核能协议後撤销支持执政联盟， 执政联盟被迫寻求信任投票。 If completed, the agreement would allow India to buy nuclear fuel and technology on the world market. India’s next steps are to secure the approval of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna and the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group, before it can obtain final approval from the United States Congress. 　　印度与美国的民用核能协议如果签订完成，印度将能从全球市场中购买核燃料 与技术。在获得美国国会最终同意之前，印度的下一步将是寻求国际原子能总署以 及45国核供应集团的核准。 The Communists oppose the nuclear accord on the ground that it would strengthen a strategic relationship with the United States. 　　由於核能协议将强化印度与美国的关系，共产党反对协议落实。 Mahesh Rangarajan, a political analyst, said some of the government’s top leaders had already lost luster because of how they had traded allies. “Even if they win, they will have paid a very high price,” he said. “They have politically damaged themselves.” 　　印度政治分析家兰卡拉强表示，执政联盟的众领导人已因出卖盟友的行为而 失去名誉。「即使信任投票获得胜利，也将付出相当高代价，他们已经在政治上 自我伤害」。 Several small, marginal parties and independents continued to jockey for various sops. One party was reported to be seeking two cabinet posts in exchange for five votes for the government. Another was demanding a smaller state for its regional constituency. The undecided parties remained noncommittal. 　　部分小型、边缘化的政党，以及无党议员仍持续索贿。某个政党被披露，以 该党五张选票的支持向政府换取两席内阁官员。另一政党则要求缩小该党选区 范围。未表态的政党迄今仍意向未明。 --

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