BJP fears US may ask India to make concessions on nuke deal
The BJP has been maintaining that the safeguards agreement with the IAEA made a mockery of the assurances that prime minister Manmohan Singh had repeatedly given to the nation.
By ET Bureau |
NEW DELHI: The BJP on Friday said attempts were on to shift the goal posts yet again and said the US observations that questions raised by NSG countries were ���good��� indicated that a new benchmark would be set for the Indo-US nuclear deal.
���The Americans have been shifting the goal posts since 2005. If one goes by the track record of the Manmohan Singh government, it will acquiesce in it,��� said former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha.
The BJP has been maintaining that the safeguards agreement with the IAEA made a mockery of the assurances that prime minister Manmohan Singh had repeatedly given to the nation.
Far from it being an India-specific agreement, the accord resembles IAEA agreements with non-nuclear-weapon states. The India-IAEA safeguards accord comes with perpetual, legally irrevocable obligations, which India cannot suspend or end, even if the supplier-states cut off supply of fuel and replacement parts. The IAEA inspections in India will not be nominal but stringent and invasive, of the type applicable to non-nuclear-weapon states,��� the party said.
The party has been critical of the decision to put 35 of India���s facilities under IAEA inspection. ���While the five established nuclear powers have offered only 11 facilities in total ��� less than 1% of their total facilities ��� for IAEA safeguards, India has agreed to place 35 of its facilities under IAEA inspection, according to the civil-military separation plan presented to Parliament by the prime minister in 2006,��� the BJP said.
These facilities include 14 power reactors; three heavy-water plants at Thal-Vaishet, Hazira and Tuticorin; six installations at the Nuclear Fuel Complex in Hyderabad; the PREFRE reprocessing plant at Tarapur; and nine research facilities, such as the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Board of Radiation and Isotope Technology and Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics.
Mr Sinha said the statements by the US officials clearly indicate that it will bring the agreement with the NSG in line with the Hyde Act. ���The government and the prime minister have been misleading the nation about the implications of the Hyde Act,��� the BJP leader said.
���The Americans have been shifting the goal posts since 2005. If one goes by the track record of the Manmohan Singh government, it will acquiesce in it,��� said former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha.
The BJP has been maintaining that the safeguards agreement with the IAEA made a mockery of the assurances that prime minister Manmohan Singh had repeatedly given to the nation.
Far from it being an India-specific agreement, the accord resembles IAEA agreements with non-nuclear-weapon states. The India-IAEA safeguards accord comes with perpetual, legally irrevocable obligations, which India cannot suspend or end, even if the supplier-states cut off supply of fuel and replacement parts. The IAEA inspections in India will not be nominal but stringent and invasive, of the type applicable to non-nuclear-weapon states,��� the party said.
The party has been critical of the decision to put 35 of India���s facilities under IAEA inspection. ���While the five established nuclear powers have offered only 11 facilities in total ��� less than 1% of their total facilities ��� for IAEA safeguards, India has agreed to place 35 of its facilities under IAEA inspection, according to the civil-military separation plan presented to Parliament by the prime minister in 2006,��� the BJP said.
These facilities include 14 power reactors; three heavy-water plants at Thal-Vaishet, Hazira and Tuticorin; six installations at the Nuclear Fuel Complex in Hyderabad; the PREFRE reprocessing plant at Tarapur; and nine research facilities, such as the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Board of Radiation and Isotope Technology and Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics.
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Mr Sinha said the statements by the US officials clearly indicate that it will bring the agreement with the NSG in line with the Hyde Act. ���The government and the prime minister have been misleading the nation about the implications of the Hyde Act,��� the BJP leader said.
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