N-deal will make India an economic superpower: Chidambaram
New Delhi, Jul 22 (UNI) Finance Minister P Chidamabaram today said the nuke deal with the US would end India's nuclear isolation and make the country an economic superpower, more powerful than China.
Resuming the debate in the Lok Sabha on the Confidence Motion, Mr Chidambaram said India was bound only by the 123 agreement which was the last expression of legislation and will alone delineate the rights and responsibilities of the two parties.
''The Hyde Act does not bind India, and according to the Vienna Convention a country's internal law (Hyde Act of the US) cannot be imposed on the other country,'' he said in defence of the nuclear deal, setting off vociferous protests from Left members, including CPM's Mohd Salim.
The Left parties again protested when Mr Chidambaram said that the draft safeguards agreement was made available to the country the same day it was circulated to the members of the IAEA Board of Governors.
Comparing India with China, he said China, which depended on only two per cent of nuclear energy, planned to generate 50,000 MW of nuclear power by 2020 and further increase it by 3-4 fold by 2030.
At this CPM's Hannan Mollah remarked: ''Why do you compare India with China.'' This got Mr Chidambaram's goat who said some people who did not want to compare India with China, did not want India ahead of China, did not want India to be an economic superpower.
At
this,
the
Left
members
rose
in
vociferous
protest,
prompting
Speaker
Somnath
Chatterjee
to
remark:''you
are
not
showing
yourself
to
be
of
a
disciplined
party.''
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