BJP to UPA: Make clear your stand on US-India nuke pact

Former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh on Monday asked the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government to clarify its stand on the vexed US-India civil nuclear cooperation agreement.

New Delhi, June 2 : Former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh on Monday asked the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government to clarify its stand on the vexed US-India civil nuclear cooperation agreement.

Briefing the media on the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) Foreign Policy Resolution here, Singh called on the UPA to end its charade on the issue, and urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to stop his daily dose of tantalizing statements on the matter.

"Since the July 2005 joint statement, Indian foreign policy has become paralysed by a 'grand illusion' that the Congress-UPA has sought to sustain, namely that (i) the nuclear deal is a panacea to India's economic and technological modernization; and (ii) all other foreign policy goals (and relationships) must subserve the successful culmination of this nuclear deal," the Foreign Policy Resolution stated.

Singh claimed that the BJP has been consistent and rational in its intervention in discourses over the nuclear deal, all of which is well documented.

Categorically stating that the BJP could not accept the loss or diminution of the country's strategic autonomy in the name of 'nuclear liberation', Singh said that the deal in its present form was unacceptable and must be renegotiated.

He said that the Centre should stop blaming its allies, or the Opposition for the delay in taking the next steps forward on the deal, and come up with a solution acceptable to all.

Charging the UPA with "gross dereliction of duty" in addressing foreign policy and national security challenges," Singh said the errors of past Congress Governments, and of Congress-led coalition Governments were there for all to see in places like Jammu and Kashmir, the North East, Tibet and Sri Lanka (IPKF operations), and now with the U.S.

"The UPA, during its four years in office, has demonstrated only one trait - an unequalled capacity to misgovern, to become motionless when required to act; to be devoid of policy when confronted by challenges to our national interests, national security, or national values," claimed Singh.

The Union Government has been "derelict of its duties, violative of its oath of office and had outsourced its foreign and security policies to the Communists," he added.

Dwelling on specifics, Singh expressed his party's satisfaction of the recently held Constituent Assembly elections in Nepal, but felt anguished over New Delhi not spelling out or clarifying where it stands on the many questions that Nepal is confronted with."

On India's ties with Pakistan, Singh said the BJP is concerned about some of the statements made by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani vis-�-vis Kashmir. Concern was also expressed about the violation of the cease-fire by Pakistani troops in the Samba, Meandhar and Tangdhar regions of Jammu and Kashmir. He also called for an end to terrorism in the state, and in other parts of the country, reminding the UPA Government of the January 6, 2004 Joint Declaration by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and President General Pervez Musharraf that Pakistan's territory would not be used to carry out acts of violence on India.

He also claimed that infiltrations from Bangladesh were continuing in an "unchecked, unhindered and illegal" manner, whereas Sino-Indian ties appeared to have been hijacked by the Left.

On India's ties with Russia, he claimed that the UPA had allowed India's most enduring 'strategic partnership' to stagnate, and urgent steps were required to avoid this drift.

In conclusion, Singh said the UPA has caused unprecedented damage to India's national interests; demonstrated unmatched incompetence, and an unrivalled paralysis of thought and action in office. Therefore, there was need for it to quit.

ANI