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Furore over Jethmalani’s praise of U.S.
New Delhi: Ram Jethmalani’s fulsome praise of the United States on Tuesday triggered an uproar in the Rajya Sabha during the debate on the India-U.S. nuclear deal, with the nominated member coming under all round attack from the Opposition.
Mr. Jethmalani’s certain pro-U.S. remarks so much angered the non-BJP Opposition as also key outside supporter CPI(M) that Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh trooped into the well of the House and staged a sit-in.
The proceedings were disrupted for almost half an hour as members of the Samajwadi Party, the AIADMK and the CPI(M) protested against giving Mr. Jethmalani “more time” to air his “pro-U.S.” views and disrupted his speech continously.
Railway Minister and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad said he was giving Mr. Jethmalani the time allocated to his party.
“A unique opportunity”
Speaking in favour of the deal, nominated member and eminent scientist K. Kasturirangan said the deal would give a major boost to the efforts of the scientific community in the phase III of the nuclear programme of the country.
Terming the India-U.S. nuclear deal a “unique opportunity,” Mr. Kasturirangan said that if the deal went through “it will upgrade the critical technology we need for the future fast breeder reactors.”
Nominated member Shobhana Bhartia said the preamble of the deal was “abundantly clear” … that the deal was between two equal states and was “based on mutual respect.”
“Strategic subservience”Noted journalist and BJP member Arun Shourie said “the government is getting into strategic partnership without any strategy … It is strategic subservience.”
Mr. Shourie said that while the Prime Minister had stated that the nation had a right to build strategic reserves of nuclear fuel, the U.S. position was just the opposite.
The government position regarding India’s right to reprocess the spent fuel was a “hoax,” Mr. Shourie said.
He referred to the high costs of building nuclear power and the Planning Commission was making over-optimistic projections because the government had “to justify the deal.”
It would take $93 billion to develop the kind of nuclear power projected to be built over the next 23 years.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will reply to the discussion on Wednesday. — PTI
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