By IANS
New Delhi : With the Left parties hardening their stand against the civilian nuclear deal, a senior minister in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government tried to allay their concerns by saying the deal will not be operationalised before December 2008.
“A meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is scheduled on September 27 and on the sidelines of this meeting, India specific safeguards might be taken up,” said Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal.
“After this, the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) will meet in May 2008. That meeting will decide whether and when we will start getting continuous supply of uranium. Only then, will the nuclear agreement go to the US Congress. And only after that can the deal can be operationalised,” said Sibal in a bid to assure the belligerent communist parties that the deal was not coming into operation that soon.
The Left parties Monday warned the UPA not to proceed with discussions planned with nuclear watchdog IAEA next month and also not proceed with the nuclear agreement in its present form.
Allaying doubts and apprehensions expressed by the Left parties which threatens to withdraw support if the nuclear deal is operationalised, Sibal added,” This agreement is not implementable today.”
“This is the best deal, even better than what China got,” said Sibal.
“China signed a 123 agreement with the US in 1985. This deal was operationalised only 13 years later in 1998 and China was told that it cannot reprocess the fuel.”
“Initially China objected on the grounds of violation of its sovereignty but eventually it meekly accepted the conditionality. No such conditionality has been put in the Indo-US 123 agreement,” said Sibal.
“Yet, you say we compromised India’s sovereignty. Can an Indian prime minister do this? That too a Congress prime minister. We liberated Bangladesh,” Sibal said triunmphantly.
He said, “This agreement is not just about nuclear energy, it is about agriculture and about medicine too.”
But the Congress minister tried to play down any differences with the Left saying that the Left parties were an integral part of governance.
“We have been guided by the Left on social and related sectors,” Sibal said.
As a cabinet minister of the UPA government, Sibal said he planned to defend the deal during the parliamentary debate and hoped that that would have cleared all doubts and suspicions about the nuclear agreement.
“But the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party (SP) are not allowing a debate inside the House,” he said, explaining the need for him to speak outside parliament on the issue.