Meet the groups from India who have signed the petition to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to kill the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The NSG begins its meeting in Vienna tomorrow.

Nine organizations from India are signatories to the petition, piloted by the Washington DC-based Arms Control Association (ACA). The only two individuals who have signed it are Praful Bidwai (political commentator and author) and Achin Vanaik (professor of international relations in Delhi University). Both are known for their strong advocacy on nuclear non-proliferation.

Ironically, in the debate in the House over the nuclear deal, no political party echoed their stand.

Except for one Indian group, eight of them do not have any website which talks about their credentials, their philosophy or their mission statement.

In fact, the US-based ACA, which has been campaigning against the Indo-US nuclear deal, claims that “a prestigious and broad array” of more than 150 experts and nongovernmental organizations from 24 countries have urged that the NSG should reject a George W. Bush administration proposal to exempt India from longstanding global nuclear trade standards.

The Indian Express spoke to six of the nine groups to ask why they signed a petition which essentially asks India to sign the NPT and CTBT — which have been widely considered to be “discriminatory” in nature by the government and political parties sweeping across the spectrum from the Left to the BJP, and the Congress.

Captain J Rama Rao, who heads the Hyderabad-based Forum for Sustainable Development, said, “I believe that India should not sign the NPT or CTBT.” Then why did he sign the petition which argued just the opposite? “I don’t remember that bit in the petition,” he said. Incidentally, Rao is also convenor of another group, Movement against Uranium Projects, which is also a signatory to the petition.

Santanu Chacraverti, secretary of the Kolkata-based Society for Direct Initiative for Social and Health Action, was candid, “One has to sign these petitions under peer pressure...we were told that if we put our organisation’s name on it, it will carry some weight...this petition was circulated by e-mail.”

But he defended his position and argued for India signing the NPT and CTBT saying that, “there is an element of discrimination” in everything but we should follow certain rules or else, the world will become chaotic.

Anil K. Chaudhary of the Delhi-based Popular Education and Action Centre, was frank: “We don’t have any office nor do we have any full-time staff.” When asked about his position to the nuclear deal, he said, “We are against the use of nuclear energy.”

Saraswati Kavula of the Hyderabad-based Movement Against Uranium Projects said: “This talk of NPT and CTBT being discriminatory in nature is double-talk...then why did we sign the WTO, which is also discriminatory?” glossing over the fact that India’s firm position made the recent Doha Round talks to collapse.

Sukla Sen of Mumbai’s EKTA (Committee for Communal Amity), who piloted the petition against Afzal Guru’s death penalty as well, admitted that “there is no guarantee that America will give up its nuclear weapons,” but contradicted himself as he tried to justify his position that India should still sign the NPT and CTBT, “There is an element of discrimination...but the impact is diluted by the bargain that these nuclear weapon states would reduce their stockpile (of weapons).”

S P Udayakumar, coordinator of People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy in Nagercoil (Tamil Nadu), also a signatory, said, “If we don’t sign the CTBT and NPT, but this nuclear deal goes through, this will lead to arms race in the region between India and Pakistan, China. This will lead to diversion of resources, which can otherwise be used for alleviating poverty.”

There are three more signatories, which include Sujay Basu (Director of the Centre of Energy and Environment Management in Kolkata), Sajaya Kakarla of Caring Citizens Collective (Hyderabad) and N Ramesh of Journalists Against Nuclear Weapons (Thanjavur Chapter).