New Delhi
4 December 2007
The Samajwadi Party made it known, in no uncertain terms, that it
remains opposed to the India-United States nuclear deal. The UPA Government should
take the sense of the House into consideration and not proceed further to operationalise
the nuclear deal, SP General Secretary Amar Singh said.
Mr Amar Singh, who is also the spokesman for the United National Progressive Alliance
(UNPA), said in the debate in the Rajya Sabha that an erroneous impression has been
sought to be created that the SP has diluted its opposition to the deal. He clarified that
the nuclear deal is not in the national interest and it will only serve to further the United
States's interests in South Asia and beyond.
Speaking in Hindi, the SP member said that a majority of Americans opposed US
President George W Bush's policies and an US intelligence report has said that there is
no evidence against Iran. He wondered why some in India were throwing caution to the
wind and going by what the US president has to say about the nuclear deal.
Amar Singh went on to point out that the 123 text does not promise uninterrupted fuel
supply and the civil nuclear cooperation between India and the US does not cover the full
nuclear cycle. "In reality, the cooperation is not full but incomplete," he asserted, adding
that Indian entities will be subjected to safeguards in perpetuity.
"We will have safeguards in perpetuity but fuel will not be supplied in perpetuity," he
said. On a sarcastic note, he said that the government deserved to be congratulated for
bringing the BJP, SP and the Left together in their opposition to the nuclear deal. "This,"
he said, "conveys to you the sense of the House."
"We are speaking in one voice that the sense of the House is against this deal. It is not
in the national interest," he added for good measure.
The SP general secretary said that the Iranian ambassador to India shared his
apprehension with him that the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project ran the risk of not
materialising at all if steps were not taken soon. He also demanded that the government
must satiate his curiosity about why an agreement for four nuclear reactors was not
signed with Russia during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to that country last
month.
He asserted that the US has not built a reactor in 30 years and its companies were now
in the reckoning for supplying reactors to India. "Even US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice has acknowleged that the US nuclear industry was sick and this
nuclear deal will help to revive it ... this deal will therefore only help American
companies to make profits," he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment