Govt has bound India to Hyde Act: CPI(M)

NUCLEAR DEAL CLEARANCE: A DAY AFTER

‘The new Act makes all key provisions of the Hyde Act more clear’.

The CPI(M) today expressed concern that the UPA government would bind India to the “Hyde Act and much more” if it signed the 123 Agreement.

“This Act (related to the 123 Agreement) is a Hyde Act-plus version which contains key provisions of the Hyde Act. The new legislation spells out clearly that India neither has a fuel-supply assurance nor a guarantee for a strategic fuel reserve. The new Act does not permit taking the reactors out of the safeguards and forces the US to prevent other countries from providing nuclear supplies to India if it terminates the deal,” said CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat.

“This is a bad deal, an unequal treaty,” said Karat, as his party got ready to observe October 4 — when US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to sign the agreement with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee — as a black day. Reacting to the CPI(M)’s protest plans, Science Minister Kapil Sibal said, “Whenever this country achieves something, the CPI(M) observes a black day.”

Karat also criticised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for not keeping his promise to come to Parliament after getting clearance from the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG). “The PM had said that he would come to Parliament and abide by its decision after the NSG clearance. But the government has not called a Parliament session and is going ahead with the Indo-US deal. This will be an issue in the next Lok Sabha elections,” he said.

While the communists are strongly opposing the 123 Agreement, they tried to overlook India’s similar agreement with France, Karat said he was yet to see the text of the agreement with France and maintained that it was “a separate issue”.

The CPI(M) also objected to India’s “commitment” to buy reactors for at least 10,000 Mw from the US. Citing a letter by Foreign Secretary ShivShankar Menon to US Under Secretary of State William Burns, Karat said, “India is committing to buy a minimum of 10,000 Mw from the dying US nuclear industry, which has not received any new order for the last 30 years. It is going to indemnify suppliers from all consequences of a nuclear accident.”

Karat also took a dig at Sibal and said, “Sibal used to argue that the Hyde Act will be overridden by the last Act passed by the US Congress as per the US jurisprudence. The last Act contains all Hyde Act’s restrictions, which have been made more explicit. After this, if the Congress-led government goes ahead and signs the 123 Agreement, it will be a complete surrender to the United States and a betrayal of India’s vital interests.”