March 26, 2008 N-deal: Too Early to
Cry 'Now or Never'
says Reassured US By Arun
Kumar
Washington
As India reiterated its keenness to implement its stalled civil
nuclear deal with the US, the White House responded with a
reassurance that there was still some time before one could say "now
or never".
"Well, we have a little bit of time before we have to say 'now or
never'", press secretary Dana Perino declared Tuesday as the
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee left after telling
President George W. Bush of the political hurdles back home holding
up the deal.
"We've got several months to continue to work with them," Perino
said when asked if Bush too had given the same message to the Indian
minister as several US lawmakers had done recently in suggesting a
June-July deadline to get Congressional approval for the
implementing 123 agreement, given the US election calendar.
"And actually that deal is supported by bipartisan members on
Capitol Hill, as well, so they're helping to move this along," said
Perino though she was still to "get an update" on Bush's Monday
meeting with Mukherjee at the White House.
The White House remarks came shortly after Mukherjee told a press
conference Tuesday at the end of his two day visit to the US that
India wanted to implement the nuclear deal, while making clear that
no deadline could be set for doing so.
He also indicated that the ruling United Progressive Alliance was
not prepared to sacrifice the government for the sake of the deal
which Bush, who looks at it as a major foreign policy initiative of
his administration, is keen to complete before he leaves office in
January 2009.
"At this juncture I cannot indicate any time frame by which we can
complete the process of resolving" problems with the government's
left supporters who are opposed to the deal, he said. "It may take
some more time."
Besides meeting Bush and having extensive discussions with
Condoleeza Rice, Mukherjee also shared "Perspectives on India-US
relations" with a group of scholars at the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace during his first visit to US as foreign
minister.
"My discussions with the US leadership reinforced our view that the
India-US relationship is robust and forward-leaning and answers to
the interests of both countries," he said noting, "We have a
commonality of views in terms of our objectives."
"It's not a question of sacrificing either the government or the
deal," he said when asked if the UPA was willing to sacrifice the
government for the sake of the deal if no consensus was reached
before the July deadline set by US lawmakers for ratification of the
implementing 123 agreement.
"The events have their own momentum," said Mukherjee. "If we can
evolve a consensus, it's possible to hasten the process. Let's see
how things move," he said reiterating, "We are interested in
ratifying the agreement." But he insisted a time frame couldn't be
fixed.
The minister did say that he had discussed with the US leadership
"the way forward on opening civil nuclear cooperation by India with
USA and other partners as a critical element of our energy
security."
However, he did not spell out the steps the two sides proposed to
take if the left sticks to its guns on the nuclear deal.
Mukherjee agreed with a questioner that the Indian constitution did
not make a distinction between a minority and a majority government
and it was quite competent to sign the nuclear deal in the event of
the Left pulling the plug on it. However, he noted there were
divergent political views on the nuclear deal with even the
opposition Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), which was in power for six
years before the UPA, expressing opposition to it.
"We shall have to take that into account before signing an important
international agreement. If it is not honoured by the next
government, it would lead to an embarrassing situation," Mukherjee
said.
"We want to avoid such a situation. That's why this exercise," he
said referring to efforts to evolve a consensus. "We are engaged in
trying to find out if there is a meeting ground between us and our
supporters."
Asked to spell out the sticking points that were holding up the
evolution of a consensus on the deal, Mukherjee said: "They have
their own ideological perceptions...They feel we should not enter
into this arrangement with USA."
They also feel that India should explore the possibility of getting
clean energy from its abundant resources of coal or from hydel
power. There were divergent views on the issue, but an overwhelming
consensus was in favour of nuclear technology.
New Delhi was keen on the nuclear deal, Mukherjee said because India
was energy deficient and wanted to have a source of clean energy as
also to maintain the tempo of development with a GDP growth rate of
8-9 percent over the next 20 years.
Making his first visit to the US as the foreign minister in the
Manmohan Singh government, Mukherjee said he had also discussed with
Bush and Rice "several regional and international issues including
developments in many countries in our region." Climate change and a
successful conclusion of the Doha development also came up for
discussion.
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