N-deal: Letter bomb dropped | Govt misled country: Left

VIENNA WORRIES: The letter has come at a rather inopportune hour, as the NSG meets in Vienna

        

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New Delhi: A nuclear “secret”, a letter from the US state department that is embarrassing both Washington and New Delhi, has created strife that India could have well done without.

Just a few hours to go before the Nuclear Suppliers Group meets in Vienna to discuss the waivers for India, it is a letter written by the Bush administration to its Congress that spells it out very clearly. “The US will terminate nuclear trade if India conducts a nuclear test.”

The controversial letter was written nearly nine months ago and in fact, was kept under wraps reportedly under instructions from the US state department.

The letter - addressed to a US senator and published in Wednesday’s Washington Post - read that the United States will not sell sensitive nuclear technologies to India and would immediately terminate the nuclear trade if New Delhi conducted a nuclear test.

The sensitive nuclear technology refers presumably to the enrichment and reprocessing technologies. The US envoy says that the letter does contain any data that has not already been shared with India.

Immediately after the “letter bomb” was dropped, political mudslinging and blame-game began. The Left alleged PM and his team misled India and “have lost all moral authority and right to continue in office”.

BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said that these terms have all long been there and the UPA government is at fault for accepting them “blindly”. “They kept people misled through a series of untruths,” he said.

Experts believe political heat and accusations of a sell out could embolden the Opposition’s case against the deal.

PM’s damage control and emergency meet

PM’s residence, 7, Race Course Road, was abuzz with activities as the UPA tried to put more heads together to get out of the political straitjacket.

External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee said, “We will be guided solely by the terms of the bilateral agreement between India and the United States. The India specific safeguards agreement and the clean waiver from the NSG, which we hope, will be forthcoming in the meeting of the NSG in September 4-5, 2008. In so far as the issue of testing is concerned, our position is well known. We have a unilateral moratorium on testing. This is reflected in the India US joint statement of July 18, 2005.”

As the situation kept developing, CNN-IBN Chief Diplomatic Correspondent Parrull had her ears to the ground as she stood just outside the Prime Minister’s office. How worried did the government look going into the NSG meeting?

There are worries on two scores, Parrull said. One is to contain the domestic political fallouts, which is why the Congress core group is meeting at the Prime Minister’s. The second concern is at the NSG meet.

“But the NSG waiver is a touch and go affair and the government is not really confident of the waiver coming through. The NSG knows that certain US laws disallow transfer of technology if the trading nation conducts tests, so at Vienna, the question most likely to be asked is why then ask us to sign on the waiver,” she explained.

The appearance of the letter, why now?

Associate Director of South Asian Studies at the John Hopkins University, Walter Anderson - who is also a former member of the state department - also joined in the discussion.

When asked if the timing of the letter was an attempt by the US Congressman Berman to somehow scuttle the deal, Anderson said Berman wanted attention.

“The government wants to sincerely go through with the deal. Congressman Berman has never been too enthusiastic about it. I think he wants to draw attention to himself because of the NSG and due to domestic American political reasons as well,” said Anderson.

So why is the US indulging in double-speak - where it urges the NSG to take a lenient view of India and in a letter to its own Congressmen, it takes a stricter posture?

“That letter states the US law on the subject. The Indian government could exercise its moratorium and test only under dire situations when the world situation would change,” Anderson said.

How hopeful is the US of the waiver coming through?

Anderson said the NSG must move quickly on that. If that decision is delayed, it becomes impossible with the US elections coming up. The Congress will only be in session for a little less than the required 30 days, he pointed out.

However, Anderson also said the letter may not effect the NSG meet. “I am not sure that the letter is going to influence the NSG or the state. They have always had issues from before. My own personal view is that it is not really so important and only has a cosmetic impact,” Anderson said.

CNN-IBN Correspondent in Washington DC, Prerna Kumar said, “What Congressman Howard Berman says will partly be responsible for the passing of the deal when it comes to the US Congress. He is unhappy with the fact that the US is not pushing forward with a particular clause from the Hyde Act which will directly say that if India were to test, this agreement will be off.”

Prerna felt that the reason Berman has timed it for now is because he wants to stir some opposition to the deal in Vienna.

Berman is unhappy about the fact that not only are inconsistencies in the deal and that the Hyde Act is overlooked, but also by the fact that the Bush administration is trying to push this through the Congress in merely three weeks of its session in September.”