Left, BJP dress themselves up in mourning

Reacting to the NSG waiver, CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Peter Launsky’s statement that the “waiver for India meets with the international non-proliferation architecture” gives the impression that the exemption is neither clean, nor unconditional. “The Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman says I am particularly happy that the waiver meets with international nuclear non-proliferation architecture. What does that mean? India has de facto accepted the nuclear non-proliferation treaty? If that is the case then it is another surrender,” he said.

Yechury said the party would not be able to give a detailed and considered reaction without going through the text of the waiver, but noted that initially it appears that India has accepted the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and that it will not conduct any further nuclear tests. He demanded that the Monsoon Session of the Parliament be immediately convened to discuss developments related to the nuclear deal. “The Prime Minister had given nine assurances to the Parliament. We want a discussion based on that assurance to know how much the Government has surrendered,” he said.

“If this has been accepted for NSG waiver, then it is not a historic day but a black day for India as far as our nuclear programme is concerned. This waiver will kill our efforts to develop nuclear technology based on thorium,” it said, demanding that the Government should not proceed with operationalising the 123 Agreement until all ramifications of the NSG waiver became clear.

While RSP general secretary T J Chandrachoodan said the Left’s objection is to the Hyde Act and “we will continue to fight against the nuclear deal”, Forward Bloc leader G Devarajan said “it is an abject surrender of our sovereignty and foreign policy”.