Cong hails N-deal passage; Left calls it a surrender

The passage of the India-US nuclear deal by the US House of Representatives has drawn predictable reactions from political parties.

The passage of the India-US nuclear deal by the US House of Representatives has drawn predictable reactions from political parties.

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While the Congress has termed the development as the “highest feat” of diplomacy, the Left parties have said the US approval would only seal “India’s surrender to American diktats”.

For its part, the BJP has suggested a “wait and watch” approach — as it feels the “final face” of the agreement will be known only after it is passed by the US Senate.

“Our statesman Prime Minister has chiselled and sculptured the highest feat of diplomacy — guided and inspired by our visionary party president Sonia Gandhi,” Congress media department chairman M. Veerappa Moily said. “The agreement is now poised for approval by the US Senate,” Moily said in a statement.

CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said there was nothing surprising about the development, as both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Americans wanted it. The deal would seal India’s surrender to the US, he added.

CPI national secretary D. Raja said the Left parties would collectively take a decision about the future course of campaign on the issue, as the deal undermined New Delhi’s nuclear self-reliant programmes and made the country dependent on American nuclear business.

Raja alleged the US’ corporate house and military-industrial complex played a key role in lobbying to get the deal passed.

Forward Bloc secretary D. Deverajan said India would be forced to formulate future foreign policy matters in congruence with American policies.

BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said there was no need to comment on every procedural step of Americans on the nuclear deal. “The Bill has gone through just one House of the US Congress. It has to still go to the Senate. Only then, we will have the final face of the deal,” he said.

Meanwhile, BJP president Rajnath Singh has been quoted as saying that if the BJP returns to power, it will make no compromise on the country’s sovereignty, while having a strategic relationship with the US. He, however, refused to answer a direct question whether the NDA would consider scrapping the deal after coming to power.