Govt comes under fire in RS on Nuke deal with US

New Delhi, Dec 19 (UNI) The government came under fire in Rajya Sabha today on the July 18, 2005, Indo-US Nuclear agreement, with the Opposition BJP and ally CPM demanding assurances from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the deal, after yesterday's fresh developments yesterday, would not compromise nation's interests.

Initiating a short-duration discussion on the deal, BJP member Arun Shourie said if India was to go ahead with the deal on the basis of the Hyde Act, (the Bill that was passed by the US Congress and signed by President George Bush yesterday changing a US law), then all assurances given by the Prime Minister would be violated.

''The Hyde Act puts shackles on India's nuclear capabilities and makes a mockery of all assurances given by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Parliament...Washington will virtually dictate to India what foreign policy it has to pursue because they are giving us nuclear fuel,'' Mr Shourie said.

He said the government had been led ''step by step into a quicksand'' and feared that India would forefeit its right to conduct nuclear tests in the future.

CPM Leader Sitaram Yechuri charged the government with ''providing a market for the US to produce nuclear energy at India's cost'' and said the argument of energy production was not valid as it would not be cost-effective.

He said the US had stopped producing nuclear energy for the past two decades because of various concerns including environmental. But India had started pursuing it now.

Referring to certain clauses in the agreement, Mr Yechuri said the clause about India's Foreign Policy being ''congruent'' to that of the US was against India's national interest.

''Independent Foreign Policy is an important constituent of the Common Minimum Programme of the UPA government,'' he added.

He said the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) was also an area of concern. ''We have been drawn into a vortex of US nuclear strategies which India cannot afford,'' he added.

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