By IANS
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday rejected opposition criticism of the Indo-US nuclear deal, saying there was nothing in it that barred New Delhi’s right to test a nuclear device.
“If a necessity for carrying out a nuclear test arises in future, there is nothing in the agreement which prohibits India from exercising its right to test,” Manmohan Singh assured the Lok Sabha, the lower House of parliament.
In a pointed intervention, Manmohan Singh was reacting to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani’s remarks that the 123 Agreement with the US prohibited India from testing nuclear devices.
“India can’t be an unequal or junior partner of any other country. We are a nation of one billion people and India can’t be subservient or a junior partner of any country,” Advani said, underlining his party’s anxiety that the nuclear deal in its present form will compromise the country’s sovereignty.
“The deal makes us a junior partner in this partnership with America. The deal will last 40 years. We are going to sign a deal which will make us dependent for 40 years,” Advani said.
“This deal is unacceptable to the nation because it is not in national interests,” he added. “If the (BJP-led) NDA (National Democratic Alliance) gets the mandate, we will renegotiate the deal.
“In its present form, the (US) legislation (Hyde Act) imposes extraneous conditions on India as it is not consistent with the assurances given by the (Indian) prime minister,” the BJP leader said.
He contended that the Hyde Act, which he said contained several restrictive provisions, will guide the operation of the 123 Agreement.
“While our concern is energy, their (US) concern is that the strategic approach started by (then prime minister) Indira Gandhi in 1970 and pursued by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (during the NDA regime) is contained,” said Advani.
He debunked the government’s claims that the Indo-US nuclear deal was primarily aimed at ensuring India’s energy security.
To back his argument, Advani quoted a report by a panel that included Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar as saying that by 2021 nuclear energy will not account for more than 6.5 percent of India’s energy needs.
Alluding to a clause in the 123 agreement that allows the US to take back nuclear reactors and fuel sold to India in case of a test by New Delhi, Advani alleged that accepting such a provision amounted to “an infringement on the country’s sovereignty.”
“We are opposed to this infringement on India’s sovereignty. Why do I have to justify a nuclear test by India?” said Advani, alluding to a clause in the 123 Agreement that allows the US to consider the circumstances before terminating nuclear cooperation with India if the latter tests a nuclear device.
“The whole thing is so apparent that no self-respecting country should accept it. Vajpayee would never have accepted it,” Advani said to applause from the opposition benches.
He quoted US nuclear expert Ashley Tellis as saying that the US could get more out of the Manmohan Singh government than from the Vajpayee government.
Under the July 2005 nuclear deal with the US, the Indian government agreed to put 14 of India’s civilian nuclear reactors under international safeguards in return for resumption of global civil nuclear deal after a gap of 30 years.
Reminding the government of the advice of Homi Jehangir Bhabha, the architect of India’s nuclear programme, to Jawaharlal Nehru to build nuclear deterrence, Advani said India was being pushed into the nuclear non-proliferation regime.
“We are now being pushed into the international nuclear non-proliferation regime,” Advani alleged. He referred to remarks by US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns who has said that the nuclear deal would enable the US to bring India into the non-proliferation mainstream in a manner not possible before.
Advani also took a swipe at the government’s communist allies saying they had allowed negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency with an eye on elections and not out of convictions.
Saying that the BJP’s stand on the nuclear deal was distinct from that of the communists, Advani said the BJP, unlike the communists, was not opposed to the strategic partnership with the US.
CPI-M MP Rupchand Pal opened the debate in the Lok Sabha by outlining his party’s anxiety about the impact of the nuclear deal on the country’s foreign policy and its strategic autonomy.
“Please take the sense of the house, don’t proceed further, because a majority of this sovereign house is against this,” said Pal.
“The prime minister’s assurances with regard to all the reservations we have made … most have been trampled … our apprehensions have been proved true repeatedly,” he added.
“It has a serious bearing on our nuclear programme and self reliance of the country,” Pal said.
Congress MPs Jyotiradiya Scindia and Sachin Pilot were among those from the ruling party to defend the nuclear deal. “The deal has raised the global stature of India. There are only gains, no losses,” Scindia said.
The government’s allies, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and DMK, came to the defence of the deal, but urged the prime minister to allay any misgivings about it.
Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party questioned the rationale behind the nuclear deal. “It’s not just a question of the credibility of the prime minister but also about the credibility of the country,” he said.