New Delhi, February 18
The UPA government does not want to link up nuclear proliferation with religion and politics of vote banks and is confident of bringing the livid Left parties on board on the issue of Iran. This was stated by new Minister of State for External Affairs Anand Sharma in a conversation with The Tribune.
He defended India’s vote against Iran at the IAEA meeting in Vienna on February 4 as “an independent decision, a correct decision, in conformity with India’s policy”.
“We will not allow, we cannot allow, another nuclear weapon state in our neighbourhood,” the minister asserted.
He did not pull any punches when he took potshots at the Left, without naming anyone, saying: “Ill-informed criticism in certain quarters and motivated campaign in certain quarters are not serving India’s interests.”
When confronted on his comments about “ill-informed criticism” and asked whether, according to him, the Left parties were “ill-informed”, he said: “We have informed the Left. We will convince them. We are confident of that.”
The minister said his government did not see any link between the issue of proliferation and politics of vote banks.
“This issue of nuclear proliferation, you cannot link it to religion and vote bank. That is itself perverse and unacceptable. Indian position is clear and consistent. We are committed to disarmament, non-proliferation.”
Asked that the Indian vote against Iran at Vienna on February 4 at a meeting of the IAEA had angered Muslims in India, the minister said those who said this were “misinformed”.
“The very reference to the Muslim angle is anti-national. No nation-state takes a policy decision on international treaties, safeguards and nuclear proliferation on religion basis. There are certain fundamentals of international treaties. There is no place for religion. And let’s not forget that there are countries from West Asia that may adhere to same faith, which have campaigned actively against proliferation and voted for the resolution…. Those who say it they are misinformed about what happened in Iran between 2003 and February 2006.”
Mr Sharma said if it was a public perception that Indian Muslims had been wronged by the Indian voting in Vienna, then it was “a misinformation”. He maintained that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had already stated that the government was willing for a debate in Parliament on the Iran issue.
