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Do not let radical view affect nuclear deal, says Ackerman

Washington: A top American lawmaker has urged India to show courage and not allow the “minority position,” which is against the Indo-U.S. nuclear pact, to affect the historic initiative.

The nuclear deal is important not just for India but for the United States and the world, New York Democrat Gary Ackerman, a senior member of the House of Representatives and a strong friend of India, told a meeting of the U.S.-India Business Council and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

“I want to say this deal is important. It’s important to us; it’s important to India; it’s important to the region; it’s important to the world,” Mr. Ackerman, a two-time co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on India and the Indian Americans, remarked at a luncheon for visiting Parliamentarians from India.

“We have come too far to let this ball drop,” he said and added that “So much is at stake.”

“Do not let the radical view hijack what is in your nation’s best interest, I say to my American and Indian friends. In order for progress to be made, courage needs to be shown.”

The senior lawmaker, who sits in the Foreign Affairs Committee and chairs the Sub-Committee on Near East and South Asia, was among the authors of the Hyde Act to facilitate the nuclear agreement, approved overwhelmingly by both the House and Senate and signed into law by the President last December.

“The business people who are among us today — under whose umbrella we assemble today — are not just financial mercenaries; they do have the interests of their peoples in mind. There is money to be made in progress; there is also peace and security to be made in progress, if progress is made the right way,” Mr. Ackerman said.

“The ball is back in your [India’s] court. To those who would try to bully from a minority position, to tell the majority of people what is in their national interests and that if they don’t do as that group says, that they are being bullied, are themselves the bullies,” he said.

To the Indian leadership, he said: “Do not cave [in]. I don’t know how you solve that problem in a democracy.”

“I don’t know how we solve this, but I know that it gets solved when good people who have right and justice on their side agree on the understanding of the issue, and who are of goodwill and good character are willing to have the courage to stand up and say, this is the right thing to do and we will find the right path in which to do it.” — PTI

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