If BJP really wants to be the 'Bharat First' party that it claims to be then it shall extend an offer to work with the Congress govt in the interest of the nation. Yes, BJP should have been ruling party today and not Congress, yes MMS/Sonia should have consulted BJP while negotiating the deal. But then it is also BJP's chance to let bygones be bygones for Bharat's sake. Lets face it, if India misses this chance for back door entry to the big league then it can pretty much kiss any such entry goodbye for the next 20-30 years. Its likely that the next US president would be a democrat who would be much less inclined to complete this deal in its present form let alone agreeing to any more benefits as BJP claims it would negotiate if it comes back to power.
BJP now has the choice of either remaining as the party that would rather wallow in self-pity, bitterness and factionalism, or come to its rescue in its hour of needs and save it from the clutches of Left bullies and their cowardly Congress collaborators. BJP has little to lose by offering cooperation to the govt; OTH, BJP has much to gain in the form of nation%u2019s goodwill (who knows it may even pay rich electoral dividends as the %u2018party with a difference%u2019 in the next election). And if Congress spurns BJP%u2019s offer of help then at least the country would know which party stands where while protecting India%u2019s interests. As the architect of Pokhran II its only fitting that BJP now helps Bharat enter backdoor to the NPT club.
RE:An appeal to BJP
by on Oct 17, 2007 09:58 AM Permalink
I don%u2019t understand the argument by Udhay Bhaskar as well as Jit Dutta except that they support the BJP Brand of Politics. First they failed discuss the merit of the issue. Did Bush-Mamohan agreement in June 2005 bring anything good for India? India should separate its nuclear facilities for civilian purpose and furnish its details to US. Is it acceptable to us? India should be the strategic partners where India should support US's war on Iraq or its proposed military strike against Iran. Is it acceptable to us? India should have military cooperation with US by purchasing huge quantities of military hardware from US at their terms. Is it acceptable to us? There is no mentioning of any reciprocity from US side. Is it acceptable to us? Coming to the present 123 agreement- Are we going to accept that our three stage nuclear energy program to exploit the huge Thorium reserve in the country be desecrated? Are we accepting that we should get permission from US senate every time we need to reprocess the spent fuel? Are we accepting the condition that the president of US should give good conduct certificate to India to his senate every year? Are we accepting the condition that we should go for a separate facility for enrichment of Uranium? Are we going to accept that we should ever depend on US for the supply of nuclear fuel after investing lakhs of crores in importing light water reactors? Are we going to surrender our right to have nuclear weapons or nuclear test for the sake o
RE:An appeal to BJP
by albert fernandes on Oct 17, 2007 12:00 PM Permalink
I am glad you are bringing up real issues here than just bashing china or usa. 1. We only have to expose only some of our plants, especially those bought from other countries.
We should not label people as agents but a honest debate will bring out the merits of the deal and show how badly we need it. 2. We get to choose what we keep secret. 3. we can build more military nuclear plants, there is no cap on that. 4. Our thorium reserves are useless without uranium anyway, there is nothing to desecrate. 5. we got a better deal than japan for reprocessing. 6. we dont have to depend on us for all the nuclear stuff, we can get plants from france and russia, uranium from australia and technology from toshiba of japan. Many countries are waiting to do nuclear business with us. 7. Other suppliers are not bound by the hyde act for us to return stuff to them. Most material cannot easily be dismantled and returned anyway and they dont want it back. It is only a political statement. 8. We have to plan smartly for nuclear tests by getting all our nuclear stuff from other countries but keep usa happy by buying fighter jets from them. 9. India actually does not care too deeply about Iran. It is being used to squeeze more from USA. But foreign policy and global alliances always change so we should not worry about breaking or building bridges, we should be careful though.
RE:RE:An appeal to BJP
by on Oct 17, 2007 10:01 AM Permalink
Since my earlier message was truncated, I am continuing this.
Are we going to accept that we should ever depend on US for the supply of nuclear fuel after investing lakhs of crores in importing light water reactors? Are we going to surrender our right to have nuclear weapons or nuclear test for the sake of defence? I don%u2019t get any credible reply either from government or the negotiator of the deal so far. It is a sigh of relief that at least govt has come forward to go into the details of some of the inconvenient questions. Fortunately BJP took a stand that it is also opposing the deal for the sake of causing inconvenience to Manmohan government and they got committed deeply into their stand and because of this the country is saved. On the other hand those who oppose the deal are witch hunted by the media. Those who do not belong to left are castigated as 'enemies' of the country or development or whatever it may be. It is always easy castigate the left because they have some ideology, policy, principles and it is easy to brand them as agents of China, Cuba, Vietnam or Chavez etc without taking the responsibility of proving any of the allegations openly made in the media. The irony is that those who oppose the deal never castigate the intention of policy makers particularly the government and its bureaucratic team as agents of US, though they completely sided with US interest and got ground to say that.
RE:An appeal to BJP
by Jit Dutta on Oct 17, 2007 11:31 AM Permalink
As usual you are misguided a la Karat & Co who never forgave the US for winning the cold war. So now Karat & Co would "stick" it to the US even if it means harming India's interests. Only China, Pakistan and the "Indian" Left are opposed to the deal. Any Indian but a communist creep can do the math of that anti-India alignment. For the record, there is nothing in the agreement which requires India to assist the US attacking anybody. Besides if the Left wants to partner with Iran, where they torture the communists as enemies of Islamic revolution, then it is their choice. India should look after India's interests as much as China or Vietnam does when they gladly welcome US investment, usher in capitalism while Indian communists would much rather swear obedience to Chinese communists (even while they pay mere lip service to Marxist doctrine while practicing the most ruthless form of capitalism) and prevent India from catching up on progress and prosperity.
For the record, China has ordered several nuclear power plants from the US and western companies so that it can continue to power up its economy while the Left in India would prevent the country from breaking free of its technology denial regime and thus keep permanently hobbled vis-a-vis China.
RE:An appeal to BJP
by Vijayan on Oct 17, 2007 02:02 PM Permalink
Do you think that the Scientists, Sethna, PK Iyengar, M.R.Srinivasan & Prasad are misguided by Karat? In fact, Karat must have got information from these experts and scientists as to which are the merits and demrits of the deal. Instead of discussing the merit of the issue, it is regrettable to bash a set of political parties who have also large mass followings. I request you to counter the view points rather than slandering. I dont agree with your rhetoric slogan "Know a Indan leftist know India's enemy". This is something like Nazi's slogan of Jews hatteredness. At last Nazism was vanished and Jews are still living throughout the world.
