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It doesn’t take away anything from us, says Kakodkar

NEW DELHI: Commenting on the latest disclosures on the nuclear deal with the United States, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar said on Thursday that they do not take away anything India wanted and there was “adequate protection” for its strategic programme in the deal.

He said India knew about the letter written by the State Department in January to Tom Lantos, then Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, but was caught unawares by its release.

“But now they have released the document…..A quick reading tells me that it actually does not take away anything whatever we have been saying here in India before,” Mr. Kakodkar told NDTV.

Asked about India’s right to conduct nuclear tests, he said “in terms of consequences, of course, when we decide to do that, we need to factor in possible consequences.”

Mr. Kakodkar indicated that there was “adequate protection” for India’s strategic programme in the deal.

“I also knew that this [letter to the Congress] has been asked to be kept classified. But I did not know that this will be released at this juncture,” he said.

“The most important thing is that whatever programme we have started, we should be able to continue operation of these reactors and adequate protection for that purpose has been built into the 123 Agreement,” he said.

The revised NSG draft proposal was within the parameters that India had laid down to seek waiver from the guidelines of the 45-member grouping.

Along similar lines, Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal said that India was bound by the 123 Agreement and the status quo was not changed. “Precisely, nothing has changed,” he told Karan Thapar’s “India Tonight” programme on being asked whether the status quo remained unchanged in the wake of the State Department’s correspondence on the nuclear deal being made public.

“The leak [correspondence] is consistent with the 123 Agreement itself,” he said adding that the pact provided for a modality to be adhered to by the two countries in the event of a change of environment and India were to conduct a nuclear test.

Seeking to allay apprehensions that the U.S. position could entail a repeat of the Tarapur experience, he said the 123 Agreement provided for India building a strategic reserve and to have contracts with other countries for assured fuel supplies. “If we have an assured fuel supply, whatever the U.S. does will have no impact on India’s civilian nuclear energy.”

Asked whether the U.S. had two-timed India on the deal, Mr. Sibal said there was nothing in the leaked correspondence to suggest that “we have been double-crossed.”

Some people in both countries were using politics to see that the deal does not go through.

“New Delhi has the right to conduct nuclear tests and Washington can decide whatever it wants to do. The Prime Minister has said we are not going to diminish or dilute our sovereign right to nuclear tests,” the Minister said.

He dismissed the BJP’s charge that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had “misled” Parliament and people on the issue. “There is nothing in the correspondence to suggest that he misled the country.” — PTI

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