The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Jayalalithaa for national consensus on nuclear deal

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Sunday, Jul 13, 2008
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Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Jayalalithaa for national consensus on nuclear deal

Special Correspondent

Says the tenets of the agreement have to be debated in every forum

CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa on Saturday demanded an extensive survey across the country to evolve a consensus on the Indo-US nuclear deal.

“If the consensus is in favour of the agreement, if the whole nation feels that the agreement is in the national interest, then the government of the day can go ahead with operationalising it. If the consensus is against the agreement, then the government should not hesitate to dump it in the dust bin, notwithstanding the personal commitment made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Mr. George Bush,” Ms. Jayalalithaa said in a statement.

“The tenets of the agreement have to be debated in every forum,” she said adding that the draft of the agreement had to be posted on the government’s official website for at least six months.

“Comments have to be invited from all. These comments should be available on the site for all to see. The views of a cross section of scientists have to be ascertained. So also the views of various political parties, which represent the public interest. The findings of this extensive survey have to be tabled before both the Houses of Parliament and debated at length,” she said.

Ms. Jayalalithaa wanted to know why the Central government, now reduced to a minority following the Left pullout, was hell bent on pushing through an international agreement, “which had little or nothing to do with the people.”

She said even if the government was able to cobble up a majority, it would be a wafer-thin one. “It is certainly not representative of the people’s will and does not have the mandate to sign an international treaty with far-reaching consequences,” she stressed.

Questioning the ethical, moral and Constitutional right of a “non-representative” Prime Minister to enter into an international agreement “at the prodding of the lame duck President George Bush,” Ms. Jayalalithaa wondered “how could he bind over the nation possibly for perpetuity to an agreement which is his personal obsession.”

Reacting to the claim that the information contained in the agreement was classified and could not be made public, she wanted to know how it was circulated in over 30 countries and made available on the Internet barely two days later.

“Who classified the contents of the agreement in the first place? And now who has de-classified them?” she asked.

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