The former Union Minister has termed the Indo-US Nuclear Agreement 'the greatest post-independence achievement of India in the field of foreign relations'.
NEW DELHI: Former Union Minister Ram Jethmalani has termed the Indo-US Nuclear Agreement "the greatest post-independence achievement of India in the field of foreign relations".
The Member of Parliament and senior advocate of the Supreme Court told private TV News Channel Jain TV in an exclusive chat that the Nuke Deal was "the biggest feather in the cap of the UPA Government".
Jethmalani congratulated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for having clinched the deal without succumbing to pressures to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty. The lawyer-cum-politician advised the Government not to yield to 'blackmail' in this regard.
Answering a specific question about the greatest achievement of the deal, Jethmalani said India needed at least 50,000 MW of electrical energy to keep its industry running and to compete with the rest of the world.
"At the moment, our nuclear power generation is as low at 1,700 MW... Our energy requirements and deficit have steadily grown and we have prospects of industrial stagnation and period of darkness in our homes and offices..."
Jethmalani further expressed the hope that the Nuke Deal would help India overcome its looming power crisis.
In reply to another specific question about what the Government should do if Parliament did not approve the deal, Jethmalani said, "If the Deal is not approved, the Government should dissolve Parliament and put the matter in the Supreme Court of the people of India."
To a question as to whether the deal imposed any ceiling on India's deterrent capacity, Jethmalani answered firmly in the negative.
He further said that India did not have to build bombs.
"We must studiously avoid such a foolhardy venture... We are stronger than Pakistan and can not hope to match the combined nuclear power of Pakistan and China without bankrupting ourselves like the Russian did in their Arms Race with the Americans".
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