Senior BJP leader L K Advani’s remarks that domestic laws can be changed to protect India’s nuclear options are only a suggestion for the party to examine, his colleague Yashwant Sinha has said.
“Mr Advani said this is a suggestion which is worth examining. Now, we will examine it,” Sinha was quoted as saying.
“It’s only a suggestion. If it works, fine. If it does not work, fine,” the former External Affairs Minister, who has been opposing the nuclear deal with the United States because of the Hyde Act, which he says will limit India’s strategic options, said.
He, however, denied Advani’s remarks that the Atomic Energy Act should be amended contradicted the party’s original stand, saying a renegotiation of the deal, which the former Deputy Prime Minister has asked for, will then be carried out on the basis of changed laws.
“I am convinced that he has not contradicted himself,” Sinha said, adding the BJP would itself go for a renegotiation if voted to power.
He explained that domestic laws, as suggested by Advani, can be changed to make it clear to the international community that India would retain its right to nuclear testing and that it would have no impact on strategic agreements with other countries.
India, he said, can assert its nuclear testing right by incorporating it in the Atomic Energy Act. “… once we have received supplies for nuclear energy from any country, it will not be returned,” he added.