Jaswant Singh

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh on Monday described the Government's approach to the Iran nuclear issue as "perplexing" and its stand on a host of nuclear-related issues as "confusing." He demanded that the Prime Minister or the External Affairs Minister "explain" to the country the concerns, which made India vote with the European Union on the Iran nuclear issue, leading to a "major shift" in foreign policy.

With the hammering out of an agreement in July between India and the United States during a visit there by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, India "fell away from non-alignment," Mr. Singh said. He charged the Government with "surreptitiously" changing the foreign policy without consulting with the Opposition. The issue had not been discussed with either National Democratic Alliance chairman Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Leader of Opposition L.K. Advani or with him.

Mr. Singh objected to the manner in which the Government went about the business. And "what it finally delivered was totally unacceptable."

A two-page written statement he distributed gave no inkling of the BJP's stand on what was unacceptable, except that lack of transparency and consultation with the Opposition was not in order.

Mr. Singh contrasted the NDA's record after Pokhran-II in 1998 when the Vajpayee Government brought about a "major transformation of the entire nuclear policy."

But that change was brought about "openly" with the rationale offered "upfront" to the country and to the international community. After the vote at the Vienna meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the political leadership was silent and only some bureaucrats were trying to "explain" the country's stand, Mr. Singh said.

Initially he was reluctant to give the BJP's direct response to a question whether it was critical or supportive of India's against Iran. "All the facts were not before us ... the Government ought to have consulted the Opposition ... that is not the manner in which India ought to have approached the issue."

Mr. Singh was also critical of the Left, especially the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for "running with the hare and hunting with the hounds." He said the Left should "desist from continuing to get entangled in policy confusions."

The BJP leader posed a number of questions. What aspect of the Non-Proliferation Treaty did Iran violate? When the regular IAEA board meeting was due in November what was the hurry to hold it now? Does not the IAEA resolution amount to re-defining the NPT without any formal amendment? Was the resolution discriminatory and did it not enforce non-proliferation through control of production of fissile material when there was no international fissile material control treaty? What effect would this have on India's own nuclear policy?

All these questions, he said, related to important foreign policy matters and impinged directly on national security.

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