By Liz Mathew, IANS
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday rebutted communist “propaganda” on the Indo-US nuclear deal as Congress president Sonia Gandhi gently warned ministers from the party not to take their jobs for granted.
In speeches at the All India Congress Committee session here, both leaders underlined the most serious issues confronting the government and the Congress that leads the multi-party United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
“The propaganda that the nuclear deal will hurt our strategic programme is totally wrong,” Manmohan Singh said in English, departing from a prepared text that he was reading out in Hindi until then.
“The agreement concerns only with the civilian side of our nuclear programme. It has no bearing on our strategic programme, which will remain intact,” he told some 3,000 party delegates including ministers.
“The propaganda that it will affect our sense of judgement and independence of our foreign policy is equally wrong,” he added. “I have repeatedly said in parliament that India is too big a country, we have the heritage of (Jawaharlal) Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. Nobody can bent India anywhere.”
The comments came a day after Indian communists who have opposed the nuclear deal gave a half-hearted go ahead to the government for talks on India-specific safeguards with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Vienna-based global nuclear watchdog.
The communist argument has been that the Indo-US nuclear deal would make New Delhi subservient to Washington’s strategic interests.
In his written speech, Manmohan Singh made only a sedate reference to the controversial nuclear deal, the row over which at one time almost threatened to bring down his government.
He said: “The nuclear agreement is an effort to open closed doors for us so that we can obtain nuclear fuel and technology from countries such as the US, Russia and France and remove the shortage of electricity in the country. You need to understand this reality and explain to our people.”
Sonia Gandhi, who kick-started the party gathering with a 45-minute speech, launched a blistering attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and also told her own colleagues that none of them was above the Congress party.
Party leaders, including ministers, heard in rapt attention as the widow of slain former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi did some plain speaking, amid persisting speculation that general elections due in 2009 could be advanced.
“I want to clarify that the party is supreme and there is no leader or faction above the party,” she said, speaking first in English and then switching over to Hindi.
Gandhi said many in the Congress had been given a chance to be ministers. “Those who are given these chances should remember that they have been given a great responsibility and there are others who are capable of holding these posts.”
She urged ministers to regularly go to party offices and interact with party workers and also people in rural areas. “Those who are in positions should remember that they hold these positions only because of the party.”
Gandhi said that while the Congress was a democratic party and there was room in it for free and frank exchanges of views, “one has to be careful”.
“Unless the party comes out with a stand on an issue, party leaders are not expected to air their personal opinions. And when the party expresses its stand, no other opinion can be accepted from anyone in the party.”
In the same speech, Sonia Gandhi lashed out at the BJP, stating that Mahatma Gandhi’s ideas and Gandhian institutions were under threat in the country.
In a reference to Gujarat that goes to the polls in December, she said: “There are sustained assaults (on Mahatma Gandhi) in the state of his birth itself and in other BJP-ruled states.
“Elsewhere, his yeomen contribution to the social emancipation and political empowerment of the weaker sections of the society are being questioned.”
She accused the Congress-led UPA government’s achievements were all the more creditable “given the stubbornly uncooperative attitude of the BJP in parliament. No words are strong enough to condemn the BJP’s attack on our prime minister and our party.
“We too were in the opposition but we never acted beyond reasonable limits and always strived to maintain the dignity and decorum of parliament. On matters of national interest we always extended our hand of support (to the government).
“Unlike the BJP-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance), our government has again and again offered the opportunity for debate and discussion on issues of public importance. Nevertheless, the BJP and its allies continue to be obstructive.”
The AICC session began at 9 a.m. with Gandhi hoisting the Congress flag. This was followed by the recitation of Vande Mataram, the national song.
The Talkatora indoor auditorium, the venue, wore a festive look with tricolour flags and banners with Congress election symbols as well as welcome arches. All roads leading to it had giant hoardings and banners with pictures of the Gandhi family – Sonia Gandhi, son and MP Rahul and daughter Priyanka.
Rahul Gandhi, now a general secretary in the party, was clearly the favourite of many delegates, who kept calling out his name even as others were speaking.
At one point he stood up on the dais, where he was seated in the fourth row, to greet the delegates and gesturing them to maintain order.