Don’t let N-deal effect Indo-US ties: BJP to State Dept

MAKING it clear that the Bharatiya Janata Party was dead against the nuclear deal in its present form, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad, in a meeting with senior State Department officials in Washington DC said the Indo-US relationship should not be made a hostage to the nuclear issue.

National general secretary of the BJP, Prasad is in New York these days as part of an official Indian delegation of members of Parliament to participate in the 61st UN General Assembly session.

Prasad told The Indian Express that he was invited by the State Department officials and think tanks to share with them BJP’s views on various issues including the nuclear deal, which is now stuck in the Senate and is being opposed by the BJP in India. They wanted to understand BJP and our views on a whole range of issues including the Indo-US relationship in the context of the ongoing debate on the nuclear issue, he said.

Among others he met with Steven G. Ghitelman, South Asia analyst at the State Department; Daniel S. Markey, who works at the South Asian affairs at the State Department; Walter Anderson, Associate Director, South Asian Studies at the John Hopkins University; Raymond E. Vickery Jr., senior vice president at Stone Bridge International and former additional secretary commerce under the Clinton Administration; and Matthew Goodman, MD of Stone Bridge International and a former Security Council member in the administration of Bush senior.

Emphasizing that the Indo-US relationship has acquired a momentum and dynamism of its own, Prasad said, but this momentum should not be considered as the sole benchmark for the success or failure of the nuclear deal. Prasad informed State Department officials and the think tank about serious reservations the BJP has over several provisions of Indo-US civilian nuclear co-operation. The bill seeks to bring India’s nuclear sovereignty and autonomy under constant monitoring and gauge of the US administration and the Congress. This is something which is totally unacceptable to the BJP, Prasad told the State Department officials.

Referring to the initiation of Indo-US dialogue in Havana and then the recent revelations by security agencies that Pakistan’s ISI was involved in 7/11 blasts in Mumbai, he said Pakistan would have to show that it was sincere in improving relationship with India.

Containing terrorism from the soil of Pakistan is the biggest confidence building measure between the two countries. This goes to the root of the matter, he said, adding: Pakistan has to live up to the commitment it gave to the then Prime Minister Vajpayee in January 2004.

Reiterating BJP’s position on the Havana meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, he said Singh’s decision to go in for a joint mechanism is disastrous to say the least.

Prasad alleged that the UPA government was soft on terrorists and this would gravely harm the national security. For the first time, senior and retired officials of the Intelligence Bureau and RAW are criticising the policies of the present government in the media. They are upset at the manner in which national security is being handled, he said.