Cong rues Seoul letdown on NSG bid

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, June 24

Reminding Prime Minister Narendra Modi of 2008 when the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) granted one-time unconditional waiver to India for nuclear commerce with the world, the Congress today described the Seoul outcome as a “diplomatic letdown” asking the PM what went wrong.

The Congress, in power in 2008, further asked the PM to delineate India’s stand on the entry of Pakistan to the 48-member NSG wondering whether India had abandoned its opposition to Pakistan’s deplorable nuclear-proliferation record.

Reacting to the Seoul NSG Plenary that ended inconclusively with at least 16 countries raising concerns over India’s application for entry, former UPA minister who handled the Nuclear Liability Law Prithviraj Chavan said, “When we were in the government, this very NSG gave us unconditional one-time waiver for nuclear business with the US and the world. No preconditions were laid. Why then, despite expectations the PM raised with his last minute visits, were the results so disappointing for us?”

The Congress attacked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for her recent remark that India won’t oppose any country’s application for the NSG entry on merit. “Since India and Pakistan are the only applicants for the NSG entry, the minister was naturally referring to the latter. Are we equating India and Pakistan and their nuclear non-proliferation records?” Chavan asked.

The Congress also said the US did not seem to have done enough lifting for India this time as it did in 2008. “What happened with us in Seoul is a reflection of the US not having done enough heavy lifting for India and of an increasingly assertive China, which is out to equate Pakistan and India having described India as a near neighbour and Pakistan as a close friend,” the former minister noted ruing “international embarrassment” in Seoul.

The party also questioned the PM on his last-minute flurry of activities to garner support for the NSG entry, including his trips to Mexico and Switzerland.

“Background work was clearly missing. The PM must explain what went wrong and where,” Chavan said, reminiscing Congress-led UPA’s efforts to end India’s nuclear apartheid beginning with the July 2005 joint statement of President George Bush and then PM Manmohan Singh.

Party reminds PM of 2008 diplomatic win

}When we were in the government, this very NSG gave us unconditional one-time waiver for nuclear business with the US and the world (in 2008). No preconditions were laid. Why then, despite expectations the PM raised with his last minute visits, were the results so disappointing for us? —Prithviraj Chavan, former upa minister