N-deal raises Karat, Oppn hackles
27 Jan 2015 12:30 AM GMT
The Opposition has come down heavily on the Modi-government over their India-US civil nuclear agreement, which was inked on Sunday. While CPM general secretary Prakash Karat raised the liability clause attached with the deal, the Congress slammed the government for not keeping them in the loop about it.
Karat while citing the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy said, “We all know what happened in Bhopal and we should be prepared to protect the interests of our people in case of any mishaps and accidents. It should not be compromised and the US was exerting immense pressure to circumvent this condition.”
Karat went on to say, “Now that both governments have arrived at an agreement over the nuke deal, the Indian government should disclose its stand on the liability clause that has been incorporated.” He also said that America had been strongly opposing this clause “due to excess pressure from the nuclear suppliers lobby.” The Left leader said, “Such a tough policy was vital to ensure that defective and sub-standard nuclear materials are not routed to India.”
Meanwhile senior Congress leader and former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid, while referring to the deal, said, “I am not sure yet what the content is. It should be shared with our leadership, Soniaji and Dr Manmohan Singh.”
When reportedly asked about the ‘break-through’ deal being a result of Modi’s camaraderie with Obama he said, “Diplomacy is a lot more than body language. Body language can also be a matter of command performance. We are interested in content and substance and not in stage performances. As long as the performances look good, who can complain?”
“If they are following the path that we have set out for them, we can’t complain. Who made the nuclear law and under what pressure? The agreement almost brought down the (then UPA) government and the trust vote (held in Parliament over the deal) was forced by the BJP,” said Khurshid, adding, “We do deserve an acknowledgement that there was an attempt at interference or else we could have achieved this breakthrough long ago.”
Karat while citing the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy said, “We all know what happened in Bhopal and we should be prepared to protect the interests of our people in case of any mishaps and accidents. It should not be compromised and the US was exerting immense pressure to circumvent this condition.”
Karat went on to say, “Now that both governments have arrived at an agreement over the nuke deal, the Indian government should disclose its stand on the liability clause that has been incorporated.” He also said that America had been strongly opposing this clause “due to excess pressure from the nuclear suppliers lobby.” The Left leader said, “Such a tough policy was vital to ensure that defective and sub-standard nuclear materials are not routed to India.”
Meanwhile senior Congress leader and former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid, while referring to the deal, said, “I am not sure yet what the content is. It should be shared with our leadership, Soniaji and Dr Manmohan Singh.”
When reportedly asked about the ‘break-through’ deal being a result of Modi’s camaraderie with Obama he said, “Diplomacy is a lot more than body language. Body language can also be a matter of command performance. We are interested in content and substance and not in stage performances. As long as the performances look good, who can complain?”
“If they are following the path that we have set out for them, we can’t complain. Who made the nuclear law and under what pressure? The agreement almost brought down the (then UPA) government and the trust vote (held in Parliament over the deal) was forced by the BJP,” said Khurshid, adding, “We do deserve an acknowledgement that there was an attempt at interference or else we could have achieved this breakthrough long ago.”
Next Story
