Both India and the US are stating facts of law — India has the right to test and the US, the right to react. That the US will have to terminate nuclear cooperation with any country that tests nuclear weapons is part of the US Atomic Energy Act and the Hyde Act, which form the basis for nuclear cooperation with India. A satisfactory resolution of the question of India’s right to test and its consequences was among the key issues that made drafting of the 123 agreement so difficult. The 123 agreement fully defends India’s future security interests by stating explicitly that the political circumstances of India’s testing will be taken into account. It also affirms that if the US does stop supply of nuclear fuel, Indian reactors will be able to operate during their entire life time through the creation of a strategic fuel reserve and finding alternative suppliers.

That the communists, who had always opposed India’s nuclear weapons programme while backing those of Moscow and Beijing, and the BJP, which chose to quickly end India’s nuclear testing after May 1998 and proclaim that Washington was a “natural ally”, are the ones now shedding tears over India’s right to test tells us all we need to know about their political opportunism. Both the left and the right are being utterly dishonest in their refusal to see the answers to the questions they raise are written in stone in the 123 agreement.