'Historic Day'... 'Black Day'... 'Can't Test'... 'No Change'

Rajnath Singh, President, BJP:  India has lost power todevelop minimum nuclear deterrence as it has given up its right to conductatomic tests.

Yashwant Sinha, vice-president, BJP:  BJP believes that Indiahas fallen into the NPT trap. India has forever lost the right to conductnuclear tests
The NSG waiver has come after so many deliberations... Obviously there have beengive aways by India. NSG had laid down guidelines which are as stiff as the HydeAct of the US. Far from being a historic day, it is a historic shame for India.Congress says apartheid in the nuclear field has come to an end. But thisapartheid came after the 1974 nuclear test. So is the Congress now discardingthe legacy of Indira Gandhi?  The electricity to be provided by thisnuclear power will be very expensive and be available only after decades. Therewere many, many hidden deals behind the NSG waiver. India could not discount theneed for further nuclear tests. There is a very strong scientific opinion thatyou need to upgrade technology. Else we will be frozen in that stage oftechnology. The Indo-US nuclear deal also does not specify whether there wouldbe uninterrupted nuclear fuel supply to Indian reactors. Will the US ensurelifetime fuel supply to a reactor as was being discussed. Each reactor has alifetime of 40 years. Considering the number of compromises made by India to getthis deal, it would have been better had India signed the NPT directly. The dealleaves a whole lot of undecided issues. We are not getting dual use technologyor enrichment and reprocessing technology. But still we are giving up our rightto test. Had we signed NPT and CTBT it would have been less onerous. Thegovernment had promised in Parliament that India will get clean andunconditional" waiver but later "unconditional" was droppedunconditionally. Since India had gone for this deal, it had frittered away anychance of a legislation here to counter the Hyde Act. Doing so now would not beacting in good faith as India has already agreed to the deal. India hasdeliberately raised the stakes against testing. It is like inviting the deathsentence on India.  The US has gone for the deal because it sees India as alucrative market for nuclear energy.

Sitaram Yechury, Politburo member,  CPI(M): Initially itappears that India has neither got a clean nor an unconditional waiver becausethe Australian Foreign Minister announcing the NSG decision expressed happinessthat the waiver met the international non-proliferation architecture. There wasa strong feeling that the waiver met the NPT guidelines. This implies that Indiahas de-facto accepted the NPT. If this is the case, it is yet another surrender.Initially it looks as if India has accepted in perpetuity not to conduct anynuclear test and in perpetuity accepted the NPT. None of the nine assurancesgiven by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have been met and we demand immediateconvening of the Parliament session to debate the fate of these assurances.

Communist Party: It is a black day and there is a deliberate attempt tohide the adverse amendments incorporated in the final draft of the NSG waiver. The NSG has accepted External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee's statement as acommitment by India to surrender its right for future R&D in nucleartechnology, including the right to have strategic programmes. Besides, it seemsthat India has given up its claim on transferring dual use technology. PresidentBush's letter to US Congress made it clear that Washington would never allowsensitive technology for reprocessing and enrichment to be transferred. If thishas been accepted for NSG waiver, then it is not a historic day but a Black Dayfor India as far as our nuclear programme is concerned. This waiver will killour efforts to develop nuclear technology based on thorium. The governmentshould not proceed with operationalising the 123 agreements till allramifications of the NSG waiver become clear.

Anil Kakodkar, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission: There is noexplicit mention of (nuclear) testing (in the NSG waiver). The exemption grantedto India by the 45-nation cartel met all requirements of the Department ofAtomic Energy. We have made no legal commitment (on nuclear tests). India hasalready made a unilateral, voluntary moratorium on conducting atomic tests.Today is an important day as we have achieved a major breakthrough. The waiverto India is unique as it will open the doors for the country to take part ininternational civil nuclear commerce after 34 years of isolation. There is nospecific targeting of India on anything. I think it is clear that people haveunderstood and recognised the importance of this exemption for India fromIndia's track record, behaviour and energy needs," he said when asked whathe felt led to the waiver from the guidelines of the cartel that controlsinternational nuclear trade. India's three-stage nuclear programme willcontinue. There is a good amount of urgency for enlarging the share of nuclearpower and the NSG waiver will enable bringing additionalities to the domesticnuclear programme." India will talk to all countries engaged in nucleartrade and certainly with the US. We have been talking about use of nucleartechnology for national development and also meeting national requirements whilewe have the strategic programme which will go on. Our energy requirement is verylarge and the opening of civil nuclear commerce will enable is to meet bothobjectives.

Brajesh Mishra, formerNational Security Advisor: Of course, BJP has the right to protest, but Ithink it is good for us for two reasons. One, it opens up nuclear commerce withso many countries which has been prohibited since the last few decades ...Second, it brings India and US close to each other which is what the NDAgovernment was trying to do ... This is one step in that direction. It wouldopen nuclear commerce with several countries and also strengthen Indo-US ties. Indianeeds supplies from outside to sustain its civilian nuclear programme at leastfor a few more years till it has its own enriched uranium as they are allunderground at the moment  I am sure that after the waiver, the 123Agreement will be approved by the US Congress. The deal is good both for Indiaand the US. BJP have the right to say it and theymust exercise that right. However, I feel the BJP criticism of losing the rightto conduct future nuclear tests is misplaced. My own view is India is unlikelyto undertake any tests in future unless some other country undertakes a test. Inthat case, the government of the day will have to sit down and have a balancewith national security on one side and nuclear civilian cooperation on the otherside and it will have to decide. With no othercountry undertaking any tests, I doubt very much whether the government of todayor any other future government will undertake it (nulcear tests). Nucleartesting is not prohibited either under the 123 agreement or by the waivergranted today. Of course you have the consequences ... And those consequencesare there even if you don't have the 123 agreement and cooperation with NSGcountries.

M.K. Narayanan, National Security Advisor: I am happy. We had asked for a waiver and we have got it.We were a little surprised about China. Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao had told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that they would never be a part of the problem and never create difficulties for India.However, we are not a one issue government and just because China did not support Indiawe are not going to have problems with them. The (Chinese) Foreign Minister will come here and we will of course express some kind of disappointment ... Saying that we expected more fromthem. We cannot choose our neighbours. We have China and Pakistan as neighbours and with both of them we desire to have the best ofrelations. The US was aware of India's stand on non-proliferation, disarmament and related issues and to a large extent, Britain, France and Russia too were in the know about New Delhi's position on the issues.But many of them (NSG countries) did not have a definitive interaction with us.I think it (Mukherjee's statement) had an electrifying effect on the people who were not sure. It had an effect on the sceptics and straightaway two or three (countries) of themagreed. These were the countries who had stronger views on non-proliferation, disarmament and other related issues and had to bepursued. India still has concerns over fuel supply assurances with us. [On theletter released by the Washington Post]: There were many times during the last 48 hours that the deal may not come through. We are very grateful to the US for the outstanding job they did in Vienna.I think that letter contains certain issue which we will take up with theUS.  We have the 123 Agreement with the US, which is awaiting signature. Now the NSG waiver is through we will go through the signature procedure

Shivshankar Menon, Foreign Secretary, I thank friendlycountries of the NSG who made significant and positive contribution to the adoption of the waiver.As India was doing something new it was not expecting it to be a very smooth affair.But there was common interest of achieving the goal of opening civil nuclear cooperation on terms which are acceptable to all of us and the commitment to common interests of energy security and cleanenvironment. Doing something new and creative takes some effort. Certain countries had their own positions on the issue andwe all worked together to reach a consensus by finding a common ground. There was ahuge diplomatic effort by all of us including the US

Sonia Gandhi, Congress President: I congratulate Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for hisconviction and commitment to pursue with determination India's integration with the global mainstream to meet the requirements of our energysecurity.  The NSG waiver marks the culmination of enormous efforts and skillful negotiations by our diplomats and nuclear scientists. Three decades of isolation haveended.  With this decisive step, India will also work along with other countries towards ensuring global energy security and addressing the issue of climate change.This is a tribute to India's impeccable credentials and genuine quest for energysecurity.

Gordon Johndroe, Spokesman, US National Security:  This is a historic achievement that strengthens global nonproliferation principles while assisting India to meet its energy requirements in an environmentally friendlymanner. The agreement is the product of an unprecedented three-year effort by the United States and India and is an important step in strengthening the strategic partnership envisioned by President George W Bush and Prime Minister ManmohanSingh. The United States thanks the participating governments in the NSG for their outstanding efforts and cooperation to welcome India into the global nonproliferation community. We especially appreciate the role Germany played as chair to move this processforward.

Cheng Jingye, Head, Chinese delegation at Vienna: We hope thatthe decision made would stand the test of time and contribute to the goals ofnuclear non-proliferation and peaceful use of nuclear power. It is also China'shope that the NSG would equally address the aspirations of all parties for thepeaceful use of nuclear power while adhering to the nuclear non-proliferationmechanism. China would cooperate with all parties on the peaceful use of nuclearpower in accordance with its international obligations and on the basis ofequality and mutual benefit,