Chennai, November 4
Bharatiya Janata Party’s prominent pointsman on Indo-US nuclear deal and former external affairs minister Yashwant Sinha today ruled out support to the 123 agreement unless it was amended along with America’s Hyde Act.
But he could neither clear confusion within the BJP over the nuclear deal nor explain how contradictory signals came from the party on the subject. Sinha told Karan Thapar’s Devil’s Advocate programme for CNN-IBN that India-US bilateral ties would be “completely ruined” if the 123 agreement went through.
Sinha’s remarks are the latest to be added to the already voluminous BJP literature of a long list of party leaders who have spoken about the nuclear deal in contradictory terms.
On August 4, the BJP articulated its official position on the nuclear deal in a press release, which said the BJP was of the clear view that this agreement was an assault on our nuclear sovereignty and our foreign policy options.
Party stalwart L.K. Advani, while speaking to the Indian Express on August 27, had said: “There is no problem with the 123 agreement. Our opposition is to the Hyde Act.” Advani has never denied saying that, nor has he detracted from those words.
The same week, Yashwant Sinha himself while speaking to India Today said 123 agreement was a bad deal for India and that the deal with the US must be scrapped.
When asked to explain this contradiction between his and his party’s stand on the one hand and Advani’s remarks on the other, Sinha gave the following response: “That is the point I’m making. What you are reading is only one part of it. Suppose he (Advani) said that we should amend our laws and then see whether the objections to the 123 agreement could be taken care of. And in that context he said, ‘we will have no objection to the 123 agreement.’”
Sinha maintained that his party was in favour of stronger relations with the US, but added that this could not come at the cost of the national interest. “In its present form, the deal is unacceptable to us. It is our duty to oppose the deal.”
The BJP leader said: “We have clearly said that there are elements in the 123 agreement which are not acceptable to us, and that the Hyde Act is not the only aspect to which we are opposed.” He insistied that the deal would adversely affect the country’s minimum credible nuclear deterrent.
Asked whether or not the BJP could change its stand if the government gave a guarantee that the deal would not impact India’s nuclear autonomy, he shot back, “What kind of assurance are you talking about? If their legislation flies in the face of such an assurance, will that assurance have any credibility?” He made it clear that “unless the Hyde Act is amended and the 123 agreement is changed, we will not be able to ensure this”.
He, however, saw “little scope” for any changes as the Americans have said that they are not going to renegotiate the deal.
