By Manish Chand, IANSÂ
New Delhi : India may have finalised a bilateral civil nuclear agreement with the US after tortuous negotiations, but the 123 deal is not going to have an easy ride politically, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sharpening its knives to attack the deal.
Even though the contours of the deal are yet to be made officially public, the BJP is not happy with the so-called breakthrough on make-or-break reprocessing issue, which it considers a "surrender of the country's three-stage (nuclear) programme".
The leftists had softened their criticism of the nuclear deal over the last few months, but they too want fresh discussion in parliament on the 123 agreement.
The draft of the 123 agreement, which is said to run into 30 pages, has to be first approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security.
The 123 deal is sure to generate fireworks in the monsoon session of parliament with opposition leaders and MPs expected to question the government on the fate of India's indigenous three-stage nuclear programme, and most importantly, its strategic deterrence.
The US has granted India the right to reprocess US-origin spent fuel and lifetime uninterrupted supply of nuclear fuel even in the case of India conducting a nuclear deal as part of the 123 deal, according to sources close to the government.
The US has also decided to accommodate Indian sensitivities on nuclear testing by allowing it to retain its voluntary moratorium on testing and have found a way around the US Atomic Energy Act that entails suspension of nuclear cooperation with a country after it conducts a nuclear test, the sources said.
The remaining steps that are required to be taken to make the deal operational include India's conclusion of a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) adjusting its guidelines in favour of nuclear commerce with India. The entire process is expected to be wrapped up by early next year.
The proposal to set up a stand alone dedicated facility for reprocessing spent fuel – which probably was a key factor that finally swung the deal – has already come in for sharp criticism from dissenting nuclear scientists and BJP leaders.
Yashwant Sinha, a former foreign minister and senior BJP leader, is sore with the proposal of reprocessing imported spent fuel in a safeguarded facility and asserted that such "an ill-conceived move" will end up "killing the country's three-stage nuclear energy programme and compromise its strategic autonomy".
"We will take the issue to people and ask explanations from the prime minister for this surrender of the country's nuclear autonomy," Sinha told IANS, adding that he can offer a detailed critique only after the government shares the content of the 123 accord with parliament.
Sinha also articulated his anxieties afresh saying that the proposed facility for storage of spent fuel will "make India into a dumping ground of international nuclear waste".
Top nuclear scientists like A.N. Prasad and A. Gopalakrishnan have also voiced similar fears.
K. Subrahmanyam, an expert who heads the prime minister's task force on global strategic developments, however, sought to quell such fears.
"How does it kill our indigenous programme? It if for India to decide whether to put up its existing reprocessing facilities for international safeguards," he explained.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is likely to come to India late August or early September for a final round of discussions. The 123 agreement is expected to be signed between Rice and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee during her visit or when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh goes to Washington in September.
If the deal is signed earlier, Manmohan Singh may accept Bush's invitation to visit his ranch in Crawford, Texas.
The US Congress has to approve the 123 agreement with an up-and-down vote before it becomes legally effective.