Mindless posturing in India over Indo-US civil n-deal: Former Indian envoy to the US

India is wasting precious time in implementation of the civil nuclear deal, says Ronen Sen

Amid a controversy that has broken out over India's nuclear liability law, former Indian envoy to the US Ronen Sen said Thursday that there is "mindless posturing" in India with regard to the US over the nuclear deal and the liability law is "unique" to India.

Sen, who was instrumental in pushing through the deal, termed a game-changer in the bilateral relationship, said the Indian government had sought a clarification over a key clause in the liability law earlier too with regard to its nuclear deal with Russia.

"An identical clarification was sought earlier too with regard to Russia, but it did not become an issue.. With Russia, and France (nuclear agreements) it is okay?But we are bristling with righteous indignation whenever the issue of US crops up," Sen said at a talk as part of the first Symbiosis Dialogues on India's relations with the US.

India's nuclear liability law, which puts the onus on the supplier in case of an accident, is a major hurdle which has come in the way of implementation of the India-US civil nuclear deal. US Secretary of State John Kerry, who was in India in June, and later US Vice President Joe Biden who visited in July, both took up with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the issue of implementation of the civil nuclear deal. Kerry had stressed that the US looks forward to the implementation of the 2010 deal "as soon as possible".

Sen said while India was wasting precious time in implementation of the civil nuclear deal, China was forging ahead and had inked similar deals with Westinghouse, GE, and other companies and was setting up its nuclear power plant and becoming part of a global supply chain.

Addressing the talk ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to the US where he is to have a one-on-one with US President Barack Obama, Sen said the nuclear liability law was "unique" to India. "The Indian nuclear liability law is unique? no other country has it,' he said, at a talk at the India International Centre attended by former Indian envoys.

"The nuclear liability law will impact domestic suppliers too. We cannot have different laws," said the former top envoy.

Senior journalist and Rajya Sabha member H.K. Dua said the issue would be "contentious" during Manmohan Singh's US visit. He said negotiations with the US over the contentious provision in the liability law would require a similar effort in Washington as was used while pushing for the deal.