Negotiation before signing final N-pact

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday asserted that India would undertake some tough negotiations with the United States on the nuclear deal before signing the bilateral 123 Agreement. At the same time, he assured the Lok Sabha that his government would never do anything that’ll undermine the country’s strategic interests.

“Our strategic programme is bound by our own decisions, and not by any extraneous considerations. Our strategic programme was outside the purview of discussions with the US administration, and is not subject to external scrutiny,” the prime minister told the House amidst a loud thumping of benches by the members belonging to the Congress and its allies. He was intervening in a debate which was kicked off in the Lok Sabha on Monday afternoon by Leader of Opposition LK Advani.

The PM, during his 25-minute-long speech, took note of the criticism mounted by the BJP-led Opposition, as also the Left and the Samajwadi Party, which extend outside support to his coalition. He sought to reassure them that their concerns would be kept in mind while negotiating the 123 Agreement with the US.

The outcome of the bilateral 123 Agreement, Mr Singh maintained, should be awaited and any judgement on the Bill at this moment would be “premature”. “We will seek full civil nuclear cooperation on the terms acceptable to us,” he said, adding that India will “find it difficult” to accept any “extraneous” elements, which were never part of the July 18 joint statement and the March 2 separation plan.

“There are areas (in the new US law) which continue to cause concern. We will need to discuss these with the US administration before the 123 Agreement is finalised,” he said.

Mindful of the concerns expressed earlier by Mr Advani and CPM leader Rupchand Pal, the prime minister put up a strong defence of the nuclear deal, terming it as “development-oriented” and as something that’ll go a long way in fulfilling India’s energy requirements.

Besides taking potshots at Mr Advani, the PM, in his speech, handed out a gentle rebuke to the scientists’ community, which has been spearheading the campaign against the deal.

“It’s also a fact that our nuclear energy programme has not developed as envisaged by late Homi Bhabha. When I was with the AEC in the 1970s, we had set up a target of 10,000 MW. It’s almost been 30 years since then, and our capacity is a meagre 3,600 MW,” Mr Singh laid bare the fact.

Initiating the debate, Mr Advani reminded the prime minister of his July 20, 2005 statement in Washington, in which he stressed the need for having a “broad national consensus” on the deal before moving forward. “Do you think that you’ve attained that by now?

As far as I can see today, there is no consensus in Parliament, no consensus among the political parties, no consensus even among the UPA partners and certainly, and most crucially, there is no consensus even among the nuclear scientists,” Mr Advani pointed out. He further alleged: “When we see the Hyde Act, we notice that its primary objective is to cap, roll back and, eventually, eliminate India’s nuclear capability.”

The finalisation of the deal, Mr Advani contended, was taking place at a time when India’s independence in its foreign policy was at stake. “From 1947 onwards, we’ve always had an independent foreign policy.

If this deal goes through, we’ll be mortgaging our independent foreign policy,” he said, even as he reminded the PM of his strong opposition to the Pokhran-II nuclear tests in May, 1998. By signing the pact, Mr Advani observed, the UPA government would be accepting the membership of the NPT regime through the back-door.

“From Ms Gandhi’s time, we’ve stoutly resisted the NPT, which imposes severe restrictions on us. Now, by the back door, we’re permitting ourselves to accept its membership,” he said.

He also claimed that the acceptance of the Act’s conditionalities would put an end to further nuclear tests. “If this is accepted, there can be no Pokhran-III or Pokhran-IV,” he said, adding, “Some in the government may be happy with this. Would you like to mortgage away India’s sovereign right to conduct more nuclear tests ? There is a lurking suspicion in my mind that the prime minister wants no more Pokhrans.”

The Left, as expected, took a neither-here-nor-there position. “The deal is unacceptable to us. It’s not only violative of the prime minister’s August 17 assurance, it is also against our national interest,” Rupchand Pal pointed out, without going to the extent of demanding the scrapping of the deal, as had been done earlier by the BJP.