PM betrayed nation on Indo-US N-deal, alleges BJP

Claiming that the Nuclear Suppliers Group had 'reneged' on its waiver on nuclear fuel supply to India, Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of betraying the nation on the Indo-US nuke deal and asked him to clarify how it is beneficial to the country.

"This is an important issue which also has a historic background. We believe that the historic waiver given to India by the Nuclear Suppliers Group now stands punctured.... We want a clarification from the prime minister on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal which he had gone on his knees to sign," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

He maintained that the NSG has 'reneged' on its promise made after the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal was signed and is now insisting that for any Enrichment and Nuclear Reprocessing, the beneficiary country has to be a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

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The BJP alleged that the prime minister has not just 'betrayed' Parliament -- where he had said the nuke deal is beneficial to India -- but also 'misled' the nation. The opposition will raise this issue in the monsoon session of Parliament.

Rudy said that in 2008 when the 'historic nuclear deal' was signed between US President George Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the government had claimed that the deal is very important for meeting the power requirements of the nation.

"It was said that by 2015, we would produce 15,000 MW energy, and 30,000 MW by 2030. It was said that two lakh of the six lakh Indian villages, which do not have power today, would get it," Rudy said.

The opposition maintained that the agreement was signed with the US after the United Progressive Alliance government got it passed and ratified by Parliament, though Left parties withdrew support and the NDA opposed it strongly.

Rudy insisted that since this matter is directly related to the PM, now is the time for him to clarify his position.

"When the Nuclear Bill came up in the US House of

Representatives and changes were made, the PM said this is the House draft. Then when it came to the US Senate, he said we will get the changes made when the two Houses meet. But the Bill was passed in that form," he said.

Rudy said India had signed bilateral treaties with Russia, France and US for nuclear supply but now these countries were also mum on the issue.

"Even the last feather in the prime minister's cap -- he barely has much -- which was the Indo-US nuclear deal, seems to be falling off his hat," Rudy said.

He alleged that India had made a lot of concessions when the agreement was signed.

"The recent meeting of NSG has taken a complete U-turn and said categorically that if there is no NPT there would be no ENR for any country," he said.

This would affect countries like Pakistan, Israel, North Korea and India which have not signed the NPT and are nuclear powers, he added.