India's ruling party leaders defend nuclear deal with US

Nov 17, 2007, 12:39 GMT

New Delhi - Leaders of India's Congress Party, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi, strongly defended the proposed civilian nuclear deal with the United States at a party conclave in the capital on Saturday.

Progress on making the deal operational was stalled after sharp criticism by allies of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) on the left. The left partners had expressed apprehension that the deal would adversely impact India's strategic sovereignty.

The deal would allow the US to export fissile missile technology and materials for Indian civilian reactors ending a 30-year ban, but only after India concludes a special safeguards arrangement with the IAEA and the deal is approved by the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

'I would like to say that the propaganda that is being made that this nuclear deal will any way hurt our strategic programme is totally false,' Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told his party members at the All India Congress Committee session.

'The propaganda that it will affect our sense of judgement and independence of our foreign policy is equally wrong,' he said. 'I have repeatedly said in parliament that India is too big a country. ... Nobody can bend India anywhere,' he added.

'The nuclear agreement is an effort to open closed doors for us so that we can obtain nuclear fuel and technology from countries such as the US, Russia and France and remove the shortage of electricity in the country.'

'You need to understand this reality and explain to our people,' Singh told Congress Party leaders attending the meeting.

Backing the prime minister, Congress Party chief and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi said: 'From the days of Jawaharlal Nehru (India's first prime minister), the policy has been one of self-reliance. International cooperation on our own terms is an inalienable part of this policy of self-reliance.'

In a veiled warning to the UPA's left allies, she said 'coalition means positive support from all sides. Working in a coalition does not mean we lose our political space forever.'

Her remarks came a day after the left allies showed signs of a thaw. Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced Friday that it had been decided at a fresh round of discussions with its left partners that the government should hold talks with the IAEA secretariat to work out a text for an India-specific safeguards agreement.

The draft agreement would be examined by the UPA-Left committee set up to look into the deal before further steps were taken.

The left parties are not a part of the UPA, but provide crucial support to Singh's minority government in parliament. There has been political uncertainty in India over the past couple of months as a withdrawal of support by the left may lead to a snap election. India's next general election is scheduled for 2009.