06-29-2008, 08:04 AM
Congress slams Left on nuke deal
New Delhi (PTI): Hitting back at CPI(M) a day after its attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress on Saturday said the Communist parties are indulging in irrational and "absurd arguments" on the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Citing rising oil prices, the party justified the nuclear deal as being essential for the country's energy needs and warned that the country's economic growth was being endangered by "blind ideological obduracy".
A day after Prakash Karat's article attacking the Prime Minister appeared, Congress spokesman Veerappa Moily issued a seven-page statement countering the arguments forwarded by CPI(M) General Secretary.
"The Left's objections (to nuclear deal) are ideological rather than rational and it has fallen back on absurd arguments," said the statement which quotes former President A P J Abdul Kalam as well as some scientists to defend the nuclear deal.
"If Russia and America, China and Pakistan and China and Russia are all busy signing civil nuclear deals, should India forego pursuing its interests? ..Obstructing the deal means that the nation's energy security and its ability to withstand future oil price shocks would be further reduced," Moily said.
Insisting that nuclear deal is crucial for India to meet the energy requirement, Moily said "larger questions" should be posed to "those who imperil our energy security, which is interlinked with our economic security as well as our national security, for short-term political considerations".
Alleging that "prejudices" have "overtaken reason" regarding the deal's pros and cons, the Congress spokesman said "reviewing or analysing them is useless".
Arguing that the deal will not only help in making India self-reliant with respect to energy requirements but also help in ending the country's nuclear apartheid, Moily said, "we are endangering our economic growth prospects for short-term electoral prospects or due to blind ideological obduracy".
To Left's question about "hurry" in going ahead with the nuclear deal, Moily retorted by pointing out that eight months had lapsed since the Communist parties' "special dialogue" with the government over the issue.
On the Left parties' claim that the government had not given it the text of the draft IAEA agreement, the Congress spokesman said the Communist parties have "an official summary pertaining to all core issues".
In his virtual point-by-point reply to Left contention, he also rejected the argument that the government, rather than the nuclear deal, should fast-forward the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline deal to mitigate energy crisis. "The pipeline is not an alternative to the nuclear deal," he said.
Seeking to delink inflation from the nuclear deal, Moily said there is no connection between the two.
New Delhi (PTI): Hitting back at CPI(M) a day after its attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress on Saturday said the Communist parties are indulging in irrational and "absurd arguments" on the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Citing rising oil prices, the party justified the nuclear deal as being essential for the country's energy needs and warned that the country's economic growth was being endangered by "blind ideological obduracy".
A day after Prakash Karat's article attacking the Prime Minister appeared, Congress spokesman Veerappa Moily issued a seven-page statement countering the arguments forwarded by CPI(M) General Secretary.
"The Left's objections (to nuclear deal) are ideological rather than rational and it has fallen back on absurd arguments," said the statement which quotes former President A P J Abdul Kalam as well as some scientists to defend the nuclear deal.
"If Russia and America, China and Pakistan and China and Russia are all busy signing civil nuclear deals, should India forego pursuing its interests? ..Obstructing the deal means that the nation's energy security and its ability to withstand future oil price shocks would be further reduced," Moily said.
Insisting that nuclear deal is crucial for India to meet the energy requirement, Moily said "larger questions" should be posed to "those who imperil our energy security, which is interlinked with our economic security as well as our national security, for short-term political considerations".
Alleging that "prejudices" have "overtaken reason" regarding the deal's pros and cons, the Congress spokesman said "reviewing or analysing them is useless".
Arguing that the deal will not only help in making India self-reliant with respect to energy requirements but also help in ending the country's nuclear apartheid, Moily said, "we are endangering our economic growth prospects for short-term electoral prospects or due to blind ideological obduracy".
To Left's question about "hurry" in going ahead with the nuclear deal, Moily retorted by pointing out that eight months had lapsed since the Communist parties' "special dialogue" with the government over the issue.
On the Left parties' claim that the government had not given it the text of the draft IAEA agreement, the Congress spokesman said the Communist parties have "an official summary pertaining to all core issues".
In his virtual point-by-point reply to Left contention, he also rejected the argument that the government, rather than the nuclear deal, should fast-forward the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline deal to mitigate energy crisis. "The pipeline is not an alternative to the nuclear deal," he said.
Seeking to delink inflation from the nuclear deal, Moily said there is no connection between the two.