The Hindu : National : Congress lists benefits of nuclear deal

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Congress lists benefits of nuclear deal

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: Listing 15 benefits that will accrue to India as a result of the India-U.S. nuclear deal, the Congress on Monday sought to drive home the point that “all this has been done by a Prime Minister whom the Leader of the Opposition [L.K. Advani] described as India’s weakest Prime Minister.”

Briefing mediapersons here, Congress spokesman Manish Tiwari said that with one stroke, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ensured India a place on the high table of the world. “Even the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, had not been able to open up the entire spectrum of options for India” as Dr. Singh had done, he said.

“Dehyphenation”

Of the 15 benefits that would come India’s way as a result of the deal, the Congress attached considerable importance to the “dehyphenation” with Pakistan in terms of the strategic nuclear calculus.

Courtesy the deal, India had been recognised as a de facto nuclear weapon state and there was no moratorium on the production of fissile material, he said.

The only moratorium, Mr. Tiwari underlined, was voluntary. “The Congress had kept the option open after 1974 — peaceful nuclear explosion — but the National Democratic Alliance government closed it by a voluntary moratorium.” Referring to the “unilateral commitment” given by Mr. Vajpayee at the United Nations General Assembly to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty by 1999, the Congress said there was no “unilateral acquiescence to the CTBT.”

Besides the fact that the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group ended India’s nuclear apartheid, the Congress said the government succeeded in reversing a regime that had been put in place because of the first nuclear test by India. “This is no mean achievement.” The deal was not with the U.S. alone, it would act as a catalyst that would unlock the doors to the world. The gates to global technology would be opened and India would be able to access dual use technology and other high-end technologies that were denied since 1974, he said.

India would now have the option of creating a strategic reserve from the global market resources that the deal placed at its command, Mr. Tiwari said, adding that it would also allow the country to become a civil nuclear exporter in due course.

Major achievement

As to whether the Congress saw the deal as the biggest achievement of the United Progressive Alliance government, the spokesman chose to describe it as one of the major achievements. About the Congress using it as an election issue, he said it would be spoken about during the campaign as power shortage was a reality across India and the deal would help meet this shortfall.

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