By Sanjay Sharma, IANS
Bhopal : Predicting parliamentary polls in the first half of 2008, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L.K. Advani Saturday said the nuclear deal with the US would prove to be a “turning point” in the country’s politics.
“Two instances – when the Congress was defeated in the Gujarat assembly elections (in 2002) and when the Allahabad High Court declared (former prime minister) Indira Gandhi’s election to the Lok Sabha as void disqualifying her for six years in the mid-1970s – changed post-independence politics of the country.
“This time around, the nuclear deal and Ram Sethu issues would bring about another turning point in the entire politics of the country,” the veteran leader told a huge gathering at a public meeting here on the second day of the party’s three-day national executive meet.
Elaborating his party’s stance on the civil nuclear energy cooperation agreement with the US, Advani said: “While the BJP is also opposed to the nuclear deal, there is a difference to its opposition compared to that of the Left parties.”
While the Left opposed everything when it came to the US and “they opposed even the docking of a US ship saying it was a nuclear ship”, Advani held that his party’s opposition was more principled.
The BJP was opposed to the deal because it did not treat India equally, said the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha.
“The deal, which would come under the scrutiny of the Hyde Act (a domestic act of the US), would also infringe on the country’s independent foreign policy.
“India is the largest democracy in the world and the US is the oldest democracy. Both should cooperate on equal footing. But under the present conditions of the nuclear deal, India would lose its freedom to undertake nuclear tests,” he said.
Advani added that the BJP’s opposition to the deal was driven by “national pride and national interest” and the party was not against friendship with the US.
“India had best relations with the US during the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) rule headed by Atal Bihari Vajpayee but that did not prevent the country from conducting the Pokhran tests (in 1998) braving economic sanctions,” he said.
“Under the NDA, India’s diplomatic relations improved not with the US alone but also with other countries of the world.”
Advani saw the possibility of snap polls following the Left parties’ threat to withdraw support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government on the issue of the nuclear deal and the hardening stance of its constituent DMK over the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal project.
“Two developments have led to the uncertainty of the government at the centre in the recent past. One is the Left parties’ position on the Indo-US nuclear deal and the second is DMK’s stand on the Ram Sethu.
“If the Left parties are destabiliser number one, the DMK is destabiliser number two. The only certainty is that mid-term elections are going to be held in the first half of 2008.
“The coming mid-term polls would prove to be yet another turning point in Indian politics as has been the case in mid-1970s,” he said, predicting a defeat for the Congress.