Communist allies of India's federal coalition warned the government that the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear accord contains conditions unacceptable to the South Asian nation and does not have the support of parliament.
“The Prime Minister and the government must realize that this agreement is not acceptable to the majority in parliament,'' Prakash Karat, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said in a statement Aug. 11. “We do not share the optimism that India can become a great power with the help of the United States.''
The communist parties and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, usually bitter rivals, both want a review of the accord, which seeks to end India's three decades of nuclear isolation and give power plants in the energy-starved country access to U.S. technology and equipment. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to make a statement on the accord today in parliament.
The communist parties, which support the centrist coalition without being a part of it, opposed the July 2005 joint statement with the U.S. on civil nuclear cooperation and had asked the government not to negotiate the bilateral agreement. The war of words escalated after the text of the agreement was released on Aug. 3. The communists say the accord compromises India's sovereignty.
Singh dared the grouping of leftist parties to withdraw support to his administration over the accord. “I told them to do whatever they want to do; if they want to withdraw support, so be it,'' the Telegraph newspaper published from Kolkata cited Singh as saying in an interview on Aug. 11.
`Shocking Disregard'
The BJP has described the so-called 123 agreement, which gives effect to the India-U.S. accord, as an “assault'' on the country's nuclear status.
“The Prime Minister has displayed shocking disregard for public opinion by declaring the 123 agreement as non- negotiable,'' BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said on Aug. 7.
The BJP wants a vote on the proposed civilian nuclear accord. While the result of such a vote, if allowed by the speaker, won't affect the government's survival, a loss would be an embarrassment for Singh's federal coalition, led by his Indian National Congress party.
The ruling coalition has 226 seats in the 545-seat lower house or Lok Sabha, 47 short of a majority, and the communists have 59 seats.
The agreement legitimizes India's status as a nuclear power, while opening up the market for suppliers of fissile material, technology and equipment. Areva SA, the world's largest maker of nuclear power stations, and General Electric Co. are among four companies poised to share $14 billion of orders from India as nations led by the U.S. prepare to lift a 33-year ban.
Nuclear Contracts
Toshiba Corp.'s Westinghouse Electric Co. and Russia's atomic energy agency Rosatom will probably also win contracts to each build two 1,000-megawatt reactors, Nuclear Power Corp. of India Chairman S.K. Jain said earlier this month. India will be able to purchase equipment after the accord with the U.S. is approved by the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group.
Battles in the House over the nuclear deal could spill over and stall other parliamentary business, including the government's plan to introduce 25 bills. Among them is legislation to replace an ordinance that will allow the federal government to take control of the central bank's 59.7 percent holding in the State Bank of India.
The accord had been held up by differences between India and the U.S. over the perennial supply of nuclear fuel, the right to reprocess spent fuel and the right to conduct nuclear tests. Both sides released the text of the accord on Aug. 3, following agreement on the terms.
The agreement steers clear of references to weapons testing and gives India reprocessing rights in facilities under global safeguards. It leaves India's military program out of its purview and promises uninterrupted fuel supplies to the civilian nuclear program.
Before the deal can be implemented, India has to negotiate accords with the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the International Atomic Energy Agency, after which President Bush will seek Congressional approval.
