Author:
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: August 31, 2007
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha LK Advani
has ended speculation about change in the BJP's opposition to the India-US
civil nuclear agreement and called for renegotiation of the deal after amending
the domestic Atomic Energy Act.
Advani's demand for change in the AE Act is
being interpreted as a suggestion to the Government to bring in a law similar
to the US Hyde Act, the enabling legislation for the 123 Agreement between
the US and India.
Clarifying BJP's stand in the wake of certain
observations he made in a recent interview to a newspaper, Advani told party
MPs on Thursday that, "Actually it (the interview) was intended to clarify
how the BJP's opposition to the agreement stems from considerations of pure
national interest, and not from any kind of anti-Americanism which may be
motivating the Leftist parties".
Calling for renegotiation of the nuclear deal,
Advani said a suggestion had been made recently that as the domestic laws
of the US were the ones that are causing the problem, India should examine
whether it could alter its laws, such as the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 in such
a way as to insulate our strategic objectives.
"If that can be done, we should strengthen
our laws, and, on the basis of those altered laws, renegotiate the 123 Agreement,"
he said.
Advani asserted that the position of the BJP
on this vital question had been stated consistently and unambiguously in a
series of statements over the last two years and each of the statements was
fully deliberated upon and approved by the senior-most leaders of the party
under the guidance of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
"These are the statements that my colleagues,
Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie were asked to release to the media. These
statements embody the party's considered view on every aspect of the deal.
There is no change in that position," he said.
Referring to the interview, Advani sought
to emphasise that the provisions of the Hyde Act militated against India's
sovereignty, especially in regard to the conduct of foreign policy.
He said if the 123 Agreement was enforced
in its present form, it would seriously impair the country's nuclear weapons
programme, and jeopardise India's strategic objectives.
Advani pointed out that the 123 Agreement
was the first step towards operationalising the Hyde Act, and other US laws.
Several of the requirements of those laws have been built into the 123 Agreement.
Moreover, the agreement specifically provided that, in implementing it, the
party concerned - the US in this case - shall be governed by its national
laws. Hence, provisions of the Hyde Act and other relevant laws shall apply
with full force, he said.
"These facts are indisputable - and just
as unacceptable. They push the country not into a 'strategic partnership'
with the US but a 'strategic subservience' to the USA, which the BJP cannot
accept," he said.
