Agencies Posted online: Saturday, September 08, 2007 at 1751 hours IST Updated: Saturday, September 08, 2007 at 1849 hours IST
Kolkata, September 8: The UPA government said it will take into account the concerns of the Left parties before operationalising the Indo-US civil nuclear deal but there was no area to renegotiate it.
Asked whether the Centre was going ahead with the deal, Sibal, Union Science and Technology Minister said, "nobody said we are stopping the deal. We will take into account the concerns of the Left parties before operationalising it but there is no area to renegotiate it."
"The Left should not stop us. They should sit across the table and understand that we don't want the Left to be left out. They should be right in," Sibal, who is a member of the key committee on the Indo-US civil nuclear deal said.
"When the whole world is moving forward, why is the Left pulling India back?" he said.
Criticising CPM which has been insisting on ratification of all treaties and agreements by Parliament, Sibal said, "that is not the law, that is not the Constitution. If you want to bring an amendment to the Constitution, we will deal with it. Somebody has to bring it. In the history of India, has any international treaty been ratified by Parliament? Let them give just one example."
Sibal said, "there is a legal point. The 123 Agreement has been signed by us. Now it has to go to US Congress. The US Congress is still to vote on it. The US Congress can't propose any amendment. Remember this time when the voting takes place, there will be no amendment. Either they accept or they don't accept it. There is no area to renegotiate. We have signed it and they have to either accept it or reject it."
Claiming that the deal was in national interest, he said, "we are neither for America nor for anybody else. We are neither anti-America nor anti anybody. We will do everything to take India forward."
Before India signed the WTO, the Left had said it was against national interest, he said. "Has India become a slave now? Don't make politics out of everything," he said.
"Are they going to teach us a lesson in patriotism and nationalism?"
Kolkata, September 8: The UPA government said it will take into account the concerns of the Left parties before operationalising the Indo-US civil nuclear deal but there was no area to renegotiate it.
