N-deal will happen, no timeline
ON BOARD AIR INDIA ONE: As the fate of the India-US nuclear deal hung in balance, the Manmohan Singh government Tuesday underlined its commitment to the deal, saying although there is no timeline, "it will happen eventually".
A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke with US president George W Bush on phone about difficulties in the way of the nuclear deal, minister of state for external affairs Anand Sharma batted for the deal.
He said it was in "the supreme national interest" and will end India's isolation from the global nuclear order, removing the decades-old technology denial regime.
"When it will happen, I can't say. But I can say with conviction that India's return to international nuclear cooperation and the removal of the restriction regime is in the supreme national interest," Sharma told reporters accompanying the Prime Minister on his visit to South Africa.
He was replying to a question whether the government has any timeline for operationalising the nuclear deal.
"Eventually, it will happen," Sharma said in a mid-air press conference. In yet another indication that compulsions of coalition politics have forced the government to put the nuclear deal on hold, Sharma hinted that even if it were not to happen in the near future, India will not give up its larger quest for global nuclear integration.
"India will continue to seek full integration in the global nuclear mainstream," he said.
The nuclear deal, Sharma said, was an integral part of India's emergence as a major power on the global stage.
"India is an emerging power, acknowledged universally. In this chapter of India's renaissance, its isolation from the global nuclear mainstream will hurt," he said.
The government has pressed the pause button for the nuclear deal after the Left parties threatened to withdraw their crucial support if it went ahead with operationalising the agreement.
"It is not a single issue government. It will last its full term," said Sharma, hinting that the nuclear deal was slated for a long haul.