Nuke deal's nearly done, challenges patriotic credentials of Opposition

JYOTI MALHOTRA

On board Air India One, June 9, 2007 : An upbeat Prime Minister has called into question the ``patriotic’’ credentials of all those politicians opposing the nuclear deal with the US, and indicated that both nations are well on their way to the resolution of its trickiest aspects.

Speaking on board the special flight returning home from his extended participation in the G-8 summit in Germany, the PM also challenged the BJP to a contest on the presidential polls. He said, as the ``governing’’ alliance, the UPA had the right to propose its own nominee as a presidential candidate, just as the NDA had done with Abdul Kalam’s signature five years ago – and the UPA had accepted.

But it was on the nuclear deal with the US that the PM was most direct. Clearly, he had been stung by criticism that he was willing to barter away India’s nuclear sovereignty, even if he added that he was ``not bothered’’ by criticism from the Left parties or the BJP.

``Any patriotic Indian, if he or she had the reins of running this country, would welcome the deal,’’ he said. Then, swinging a side swipe at the BJP, who had been rumoured to doing a similar deal with the US when it was in power, the PM added : ``You should judge politicians not when they are in the opposition but when they are in power.’’

He admitted the atmospherics as well as the content of his short, ten-minute meeting with US president George Bush yesterday in Heilingendamm had been very good. ``The President appreciated our concerns. He is very positive about India. He feels a certain ownership about the nuclear deal. I am satisfied with the meeting,’’ he said.

Then he went on to bluntly express his own ownership of the deal : ``It will end India’s nuclear isolation. It will preserve the integrity of our strategic programme. It will open up new paths,’’ he said.

Perhaps the PM’s robust rebuttal to allegations from certain sections in the establishment that New Delhi was bartering away its nuclear independence has come at a crucial time. Negotiators will again start on further technical-level discussions, and both sides now hope that they will be able to wrap it up when US secretary of state Condoleezzaa Rice comes to town in end-July or early August.

But Manmohan Singh also pointed to the tough negotiations that still needed to be done ``before there is light at the end of the tunnel.’’

Sources said the PM-Bush talks as well as between National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and his US counterpart Steve Hadley had gone off so well the US was signaling its intention to compromise on the two key counts that were of concern to India, that is reprocessing rights of spent fuel and immunity for the strategic fuel reserve.

The PM admitted as much. ``Bush took copious notes of what I told him,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, Manmohan Singh admitted that while he would like to go to Pakistan, perhaps now may not be the best time.

``I have an invitation from President Musharraf. I would certainly like to visit Pakistan. But the President has some problems at home these days and I don’t want to add to those problems,’’ the PM told journalists on board Air India One.

The PM also ruminated about the changed character of Berlin, how it seemed so fantastic that it had been divided by a wall only a few years ago, and was now integrating so nicely.

``I have the same hope that this will also apply to our neighbourhood. Our ambition, our prayers are to find paths to do so with Pakistan,’’ he said.

Asked about Nawaz Sharif’s comments that India should only talk to a democratically elected government in Paksitan, the PM said India would talk to whoever was in power in that country.
ENDS