“This is the right thing to do. This (deal) is important for the future of India. Take the risk again and again... if it is in the national interest,” he said. “Our Prime Minister has decided what is in the national interest.”

Gandhi said the Left parties were opposed the deal due to political or ideological compulsions but “if we are convinced that it is in national interest, we have to press ahead with it”.

He drew a parallel between the current situation and the time when his father Rajiv Gandhi introduced computers in the country. “I remember I was a child and my father was talking about computers and new technology in the telecom sector. There were people who ridiculed the computer. They would ask computer se kisan ko kya faida hoga (how will farmers benefit from a computer?),” he said. “Now the computer is used everywhere. It has changed the entire country.”

He said it was incorrect to say that nuclear energy can meet only three per cent of the energy requirement. “How do you say this?” he asked, adding that the deal would one day help meet 70 per cent of energy needs. “This is a big opportunity to become a major player in the field of nuclear industry.”

Asked whether the Congress alliance with the Samajwadi Party would continue even during the next elections, Gandhi said his party’s first concern was about the votes in Parliament.