Comment

Minister of state for science and technology (independent charge) Kapil Sibal feels that the brouhaha over a leaked letter concerning the Indo-US nuclear deal which cast aspersions on prime minister Manmohan Singh’s honesty was much ado about nothing. He also said that no one in government had ever believed that getting the waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group was going to be easy. He tells Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr that the government went into the deal for the good of the nation and the need to test if required has not been bartered away.

Is there a sense of relief in the government now that the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) waiver has been obtained?
Relief?

There were tense moments before it came through.
There are always moments of tension in matters like these. Forces of history have obtained India this recognition.

There was an assumption that the Americans were going to do the job for us at the NSG?
Whose assumption was it? It was the Left’s assumption. They thought that once the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) deal was frozen, it was on autopilot after that. We told them in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-Left Front (LF) meetings that it was not so, and that each milestone has to be crossed. The NSG was yet another milestone because it was not easy to get consensus among 45 countries. Each nation has its particular constituency to serve. But they tried to bring down this government on the basis of an assumption which has been demonstrated to be wrong.

Did you expect the NSG phase to be as tough as it has turned out to be?
We never thought anything was going to be easy. To break 30 years of isolation was never going to be easy. Domestically, you know how difficult it has been and how irrational the opposition has been. The prime minister has always said how good this is for the country, and we believe it is. Ultimately, energy is the raw material of civilised life. Nuclear energy is one option in the basket of energies.

Do you think that the political packaging of the deal has been faulty in India?
If you believe that the political opposition is based on informed decision-making and on constructive approach consistent with national interest, then you have read the political opposition completely wrong. It is opposition for its own sake, for narrow-minded interests. Somewhere down the road, the political opposition has to answer the future generation.

What about this letter which has created a mini-storm…
What is it in the letter that is inconsistent with the 123 agreement? The 123 agreement has never promised us sensitive nuclear technology. The United States has made it clear to us that there is an embargo under US laws and there has to be an amendment before those sensitive technologies could be exported. We did not need reprocessing technology because we have that. What we needed was reprocessing rights. So the right to reprocess was granted under 123. The agreement does not say that India cannot test. It says if India were to test there would be consequences,some of which are set out in the agreement. Unfortunately, some political parties have tried to attack the prime minister, saying that he misled the country. No person will ever believe that of this prime minister.

When this agreement was made, it was understood that some concessions were given. Is that the case?
First of all, the 123 agreement is for everybody to see. We are not moving away it. There are no more concessions to be given, and there are no more concessions to be had. There are some concerns about non-proliferation. The external affairs minister has said that India has always been committed to non-proliferation. We will move forward in any global movement towards non-proliferation.

Does India subscribe to the NPT doctrine?
No. There is a voluntary moratorium. The 123 agreement says so. India has the right to exercise its options if the environment changes. And the document allegedly leaked says nothing different.

So, the argument made by the BJP and the Left that the government has bartered away the sovereign right to test is not true.
It was the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government which had declared the voluntary moratorium. Atal Bihari Vajpayee had told the Lok Sabha that there was no need for further nuclear tests. Vajpayee told a press conference that India did not conduct a sixth test because there was no need for a sixth. As far as the Left is concerned, they have been votaries of non-proliferation. So, why are they now talking about testing?