The Left parties on Thursday said the assurances given by President George W Bush while giving assent to the legislation on Indo-US nuclear deal were "not worth anything".
NEW DELHI: The Left parties on Thursday said the assurances given by President George W Bush while giving assent to the legislation on Indo-US nuclear deal were "not worth anything" and the 123 Agreement would entail "huge costs" for India.
"The legislation signed by President Bush into law is nothing but a Hyde Act plus law. The clarifications given by Bush about fuel supply assurance and advance consent for reprocessing are not worth anything," CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said here.
Maintaining that the statement was "only a device" to allay genuine fears over the deal, he said "the law passed by US Congress will determine implementation of the Agreement. Bush will not be around (as President) at that time."
The CPI(M) leader had earlier described the 123 Agreement as "a Hyde Act plus law" saying it included all key provisions of the Hyde Act as well as additional measures.
The Manmohan Singh government has been claiming that the Hyde Act would be overridden by the last Act passed by the US Congress as per US jurisprudence. "Now the last Act contain all the Hyde Act restrictions and they have been made more explicit."
In the same vein, CPI National Secretary D Raja said there was a "wide gap" between the understanding of the Indian and the US governments of the deal.
"While Washington considers 123 agreement to be governed by the Hyde Act, Atomic Energy Act and other US laws, New Delhi is of the view that only 123 agreement was binding."
Observing that the signing of the deal was a result of "mutual desperation," he said "while Manmohan Singh wants to show some achievement at the fag end of his tenure, Bush, whose tenure also ends in four months, is desperate to help the military-industrial establishment at a time when US is passing through a mega financial crisis".
Raja said the US nuclear companies were waiting for the massive Indian market to open up for their revival.
"They see the Congress-led UPA government helping them in this. Nobody knows what the economic cost of this deal will be for India. It will simply be huge...it will have very serious consequences for India and its future," he said.
Raja also said it was finally the prerogative of the US to ensure uninterrupted fuel supplies for India for its nuclear reactors imported from there.
"We will have to see how far the Indian government has yielded to the US," the CPI leader said.
Describing it as an "unequal treaty", Karat had earlier said if the Congress-led government signed the 123 Agreement, "it will be a complete surrender to the United States and a betrayal of India's vital interests."
India has already committed to buy equipment to produce a minimum of 10,000 MW of power from the US nuclear industry "which has not received any new order for the last 30 years", he said, adding that this order was estimated at about USD 70 billion or over Rs 280,000 crore.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}