A statement by senior White House advisor David Axelrod, that the US will be able to “challenge” India if it fails to meet the climate change goals it has agreed to under the Copenhagen Accord, will provide further ammunition to opposition parties, which are claiming India succumbed to US pressure at the meet.

“Now the Chinese, Indians, the other major economies are coming along and this is the result of [Obama’s] strong leadership,” said Axelrod on CNN on Monday.

Indian negotiators would dispute Axelrod’s claim. First, the Copenhagen Accord is not legally binding. Second, the only substantial goal India agreed to was to reduce the carbon intensity of its economic growth by 20 to 25 per cent by 2020.Responding to Axelrod’s observations, CPM leader Sitaram Yechury, who was part of the Indian delegation to Copenhagen and has already been critical of the government for endorsing the accord, was restrained. “All issues will be raised in Parliament once the government spells out its stand,” he said.

At Copenhagen, China and India set themselves goals for combating climate change. “We’re going to be able to review what they’re doing. We’re going to be able to challenge them if they don’t meet those goals,” Axelrod said.

Indian negotiators would dispute Axelrod’s claim. First, the Copenhagen Accord is not legally binding. Second, the only substantial goal India agreed to was to reduce the carbon intensity of its economic growth by 20 to 25 per cent by 2020.

Indian industry is on course to achieve this target without really going out of its way.

Axelrod’s statement, say Washington observers, is really about preparing the ground for a coming Obama push to get US global warming legislation through a skeptical Senate. Axelrod is not a policy point person, they note, his task is shepherding legislation and selling policies to the public.

Obama is determined to get a version of the Waxman-Markey global warming legislation through Senate, which rejected a similar effort by Bill Clinton because China and India hadn’t agreed to carbon limits.

Without India and China on board, Obama would have been perceived to have failed at Copenhagen. It was noticeable that moderate Republican senators and staffers praised Obama. Senator Lisa Murkow-ski said, “Whenever you have… China and India indicating they are willing to be participants, I think that’s a strong indicator that we’ll have opportunities to be working.”