'Heated' N-deal issue catches winter chill in House

DAMP SQUIB: The discussions on the Indo-US 123 Agreement gathered no steam.

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Keywords: Bjp, Left

New Delhi: Parliament on Wednesday saw some heated debate over the Indo-US nuclear deal. But the debate billed as the one issue that would dominate the Winter Session of Parliament appeared to have caught the chill.

The discussions on the Indo-US 123 Agreement gathered no steam as the Left sparred with the BJP.

But the Government was not really embarrassed because only a token Opposition remained in the House as External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee rose to respond to the criticism.

He reminded the House of the need for India's energy security and refuted allegations that the deal would mortgage the country's sovereignty.

“This agreement will provide us the passport to enter into another agreement on nuclear trade with host of other countries,” he said.

The Left had come with a planned strategy not to embarrass the government and harped on its reservations over Hyde Act.

The ally made an attempt to dispel the impression that it had conceded ideological ground by giving the green signal for IAEA talks.

"United States’ 1-2-3 is not simple as 1-2-3. It’s India's arms bazaar. It’s India’s retail, it’s Indian insurance,” said CPM’s Roopchand Pal.

As for the real opposition, it was also clear that the string of emissaries despatched by the Government last month hasn’t cut much ice with deal nay-sayers within the BJP.

“The 123 Agreement as it stands is unacceptable to the nation because it is deeply detrimental to India's long term interests,” said Advani.

With the government having taken the definite step of starting the safeguards dialogue with the IAEA, much of the debate in the House was simply shadow boxing.

And lost in the cloud of words was the sense of the House.