NEW DELHI, 13 December 2006 — India’s foreign minister defended a landmark civil nuclear agreement between India and the United States yesterday in the face of strong opposition from supporters of the country’s ruling coalition and the main opposition party.
Pranab Mukherjee told Parliament that the US legislation was “consistent with our national security and energy requirements.” Mukherjee did not comment on criticism of the deal but said the pact would free the US to engage with India in the civil nuclear area.
“We recognize the initiative that (US) President (George W.) Bush has taken to make the exception for India,” he said.
“We have always maintained that the foreign policy, determined solely by our national rights, is our sovereign right. We will not allow external scrutiny of or interference with the strategic program,” he said.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has called the agreement “unequal” and said it would impose tough conditions that would cripple India’s nuclear program, without assurance of uninterrupted fuel supplies for the country’s civilian nuclear reactors.
The BJP has urged the government to reject the deal’s “humiliating” conditions.
The criticism has disrupted work in India’s Parliament this week, but it is unlikely to have any impact on the status of the agreement, which will end the isolation imposed on the country’s nuclear and high-technology agencies. The deal, approved by the US Congress on Saturday, would allow shipments of civilian nuclear fuel to India, overturning a nearly three-decade-old American anti-proliferation policy. India is not a signatory to the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
The approval paves the way for Bush to sign the legislation into law. India pushed hard for the deal, which it said it urgently needs to help meet its rapidly growing energy needs.
But the version approved by Congress raised concerns in India over provisions that could limit India’s right to reprocess spent atomic fuel and employ other sensitive nuclear technologies. Concerns also center on provisions that would require Bush and his successors to determine if New Delhi is cooperating with Washington’s efforts to confront Iran about its nuclear ambitions.
The law also drew criticism from India’s two main communist parties, supporters of India’s ruling coalition. The communists asked the government on Monday to seek clarification from the US on clauses that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) said would “seriously undermine” India’s foreign policy.
“This is an attempt to bind India to US strategic interests. We fear it will adversely affect our independent foreign policy and our strategic autonomy,” CPI-M chief Prakash Karat said. The agreement creates an exemption in US nonproliferation law to allow American civilian nuclear trade with India in exchange for Indian safeguards and inspections at its 14 civilian nuclear plants. Eight military nuclear plants would be off-limits in the deal.
