Scientists' concern over civil nuclear deal must be allayed: BJP

Bhopal, Dec 17 (UNI) Demanding that the UPA government allay fears of nuclear scientists over the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, the BJP today said it would be cancelled if the NDA came to power.

Senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Murli Manohar Joshi told reporters here that Indian nuclear scientists had expressed serious concerns over the deal and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must allay these concerns.

Pointing out that India could not cancel the deal as per the terms of the agreement, he said the NDA would look into certain options to get the deal cancelled once it comes to power. However, he refused to divulge these options at present.

Regretting that Indian scientists were not being involved in the dialogue, Dr Joshi said bureaucrats could not understand the serious issue without technical assistance. Hence, scientific advice was necessary to understand the nitty-gritties of the deal, he said.

Claiming that the deal completely safeguarded the US interests, he said it would ''adversely'' affect India's independent nuclear policy and the country would become heavily dependent on the US for its energy requirements.

Noting that the deal provided the US a right to inspect nuclear reactors in detail, he said that the intervention could affect the nuclear research programme in the country.

''The country was quite ahead in the field of thorium but the deal could badly affect it. Besides, conducting nuclear tests would not be possible,'' Dr Joshi noted.

As per the agreement, it would be difficult to set up nuclear reactors, with the precess taking about seven to eight years and would be as costly.

Through this civil nuclear deal, the CTBT was being imposed through the backdoor, Dr Joshi claimed.

He also alleged that the deal had provisions that India would support the US in whatever step it would take to helt Iran's nuclear programme ''thereby affecting the country's foreign policy.'' Under this agreement, India has also been placed equal to Pakistan, thereby meting out same behaviour to a responsible and an nuclear power as well as ''an irresponsible one.'' Noting that years the Prime Minister had been advocating the nuclear deal for quite some time, projecting it to be in India's interests. Dr Joshi, however, claimed that the deal would prove ''dangerous,'' to the country.

UNI SKV-PS MS GC1553