The three-day BJP National Executive began here on Friday with party president Rajnath Singh steering clear of any demand to “renegotiate the nuclear deal with the USA”, something that the party had so vigorously pursued until a few weeks ago.

Sounding cautious while making the usual noises about India’s “nuclear sovereignty being undermined (by forfeiting its right to conduct future nuclear tests)”, Singh said: “Our opposition is limited only to those unbalanced provisions in the deal that endanger the nuclear sovereignty of India.”

“Our testing options appear to have been eliminated and there is no legally binding agreement on the assured fuel supply,” said Rajnath. The BJP, he said, however, was all for “nuclear and political cooperation with the USA”.

In an attempt to reinforce what the BJP views as its “natural ties” with the USA, he added: “It has been proved that the concealing of facts (on the Indo-US nuclear deal) was not done by the US Government, but by the Government of India. It’s the Prime Minister who consciously misled the country.”

By agreeing to terms of the NSG supply, Rajnath, however, claimed that “India has willfully converted our unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing into a multi-lateral international commitment”.

The BJP president quoted a People’s Daily article to say that China may conduct further nuclear tests. “In such a situation, if the Government of India surrenders its right to conduct a nuclear test, it could be dangerous for the country,” he said.

Picking on China’s propensity to “create a border dispute even in undisputed areas”, and the “recent construction activity that it is undertaking in the Himalayan region”, he called the Government’s approach to China as “very slack and weak”.

... contd.