Saran upbeat on nuclear deal

NEW YORK: Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said he felt “very encouraged” by the support he saw for the Indian civil nuclear deal during his meetings on Capitol Hill, although he warned that rapidly warming India-US ties would take a hit if the US Congress thumbed down the deal.

“I don’t have the impression that no one wants to be associated with this nuclear deal,” Saran shot back at a reporter who suggested that very few legislators had come forward to back the deal despite the fact that the 180-member Caucus on India and Indian-Americans is the largest conclave in Congress.

“Yesterday, I spent most of the time on the Hill...what impressed me the most is that there is support for a strong India-US relationship. We are not surprised that there is an intense debate on the nuclear deal and we are not surprised that questions are being raised. The most important thing is that we have answers to the questions…I was very encouraged after our meetings,” Saran told a press conference in Washington.

Saran’s meeting with Tom Lantos, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives’ powerful International Relations Committee may assuage some concerns the Congress has regarding India’s relationship with Iran.

During his talks with Saran, Lantos apparently pointed out that New Delhi’s training of the Iranian navy might undermine Congressional support for the deal. “I got an opportunity to explain that this is completely misleading,” said Saran while reacting to the concerns and Congressional misgivings about the nuclear deal.

He explained that two Iranian naval ships were on a six-day informal visit to India’s naval base in Kochi in March while on an annual sea training sortie in the Arabian Sea. Saran stressed that it had nothing to do with training but was part of a simple diplomatic goodwill gesture.

India’s traditionally strong and friendly ties with neighbour Iran are likely to be viewed with a jaundiced eye by US lawmakers. After a heated debate, India did eventually support the International Atomic Energy Agency decision to “refer” Iran to the UN Security Council. But the US Congress will expect India to routinely back American efforts to isolate Iran. Saran also used the four-day visit to signal that India saw the passage of the nuclear deal in Congress as a litmus test. “I have pointed out to my interlocutors that the civilian nuclear energy deal should be seen as part and parcel of the larger relationship that has developed between the two countries. It should not be taken in isolation,” said Saran.

He told key members of Congress and vocal nonproliferation pundits that future India-US bilateral ties would be shaped by the civil nuclear agreement. “If this does not go through, it does not mean that everything else will fall by the wayside. But we should also recognise that for good reason or bad, there is an intense focus on this agreement,” Saran said. “Whether we like it or not this has become very symbolic of what we want to do with the Indo-US relationship. Therefore, if this deal does not go through there will be some falling back in terms of the expectations and enthusiasm that has been created,” he added.

President George W. Bush is hoping to push the nuclear agreement through a Republican-controlled Congress. Unfortunately, his job-approval rating can’t seem to climb over 40 percent so his ability to get much of anything done is now being widely questioned. The tough proposal has also cropped up in an election year when lawmakers have already rebelled against Bush on several issues. The Bush administration, however, is working towards getting the Congress to make the necessary changes to the existing US Atomic Energy Act by May this year. Saran refused to take a position on how quickly legislation would move in Congress.