By IANS
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Tuesday defended the embattled Indo-US nuclear deal as an “honourable agreement”, saying despite delay in implementation it was not “the end of the road”.
Germany promised support to the deal in the Nuclear Suppliers Group after India finalises its safeguards pact with the IAEA.
“The 123 (civil nuclear cooperation agreement) we have done with the US is an honourable agreement which is good for India, good for the world and for non-proliferation,” Manmohan Singh said at a joint press conference with visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
In a message aimed at Leftist opponents of the nuclear deal as well as the international community, the prime minister kept hope alive for the nuclear deal, saying his government was trying to build “broad-based national consensus” to see that the deal was carried forward.
“Efforts are on to evolve a broad-based national consensus. In a democracy, you have to take everyone along,” said Manmohan Singh while replying to a question on the future of the nuclear deal on which he has staked so much of his personal prestige as well as that of his government.
Alluding to the standoff between the UPA government and its Left allies, he said, “We have run into some problems domestically. We are trying to resolve them. We are committed to see that this process is carried forward”.
“There is some delay. I would not like to speculate on the consequences. We have not reached the end of the road,” said Manmohan Singh with Merkel at his side to dispel the impression that the stalling of the nuclear deal due to the compulsions of coalition politics has dented India’s credibility in the international arena.
He had “fruitful discussions” with Merkel in the area of civil nuclear cooperation between India and the international community, Manmohan Singh said after talks between the two leaders and the signing of seven agreements in diverse areas.
The government has held five meetings with its Left allies, which prop up the ruling coalition, to resolve differences over the nuclear deal that will re-open doors of global nuclear commerce for India after a gap of three decades.
The Left parties have warned that if the government proceeded with operationalisation of the nuclear deal – an IAEA safeguards agreement and NSG rule change – they would not hesitate to withdraw support, which will in turn force an early election on the country.
In the last joint meeting, the Left leaders stressed that they wanted the government to tell the country that the deal was off and said that the deal would end up reducing India to a satellite state serving the US imperial interests.
In a clear indication that India’s NSG diplomacy was on track, Germany, which becomes the chair of the 45-nation body next year, indicated its support for the deal that is being opposed to by some political sections in that country.
“We have every interest to see that India gets cooperation in the international nuclear regime, but India must ensure maximum transparency,” said Merkel, who arrived here on her first visit to India Monday night.
Merkel, however, added a caveat about India first finalising a safeguards agreement for its civilian nuclear reactors with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) before Germany takes a stand in the NSG that controls the flow of global nuclear technology and fuel.
“We hope that the IAEA rules are abided by. Once that is in place, Germany and India can do a lot together in peaceful uses of nuclear energy,” Merkel said, signalling that there is widespread global acceptance of the nuclear deal, which some critics question as endangering the existing nuclear non-proliferation regime.
Merkel’s forthright stand on the nuclear deal was an advance over Germany’s ambivalent position during Manmohan Singh’s visit to that country last year.
Manmohan Singh and Merkel also discussed a diverse range of bilateral regional and global issues, including reform of the UN Security Council, climate change, energy security, and the Doha round of multilateral trade negotiations. The two countries also set an ambitious target of doubling bilateral trade to 20 billion euros by 2012.