The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE) and the National Alliance of Anti-nuclear Movements (NAAM) condemn the sale of American reactors to India.

India and the United States have announced the construction of six nuclear power plants in India, according to a joint statement issued at the conclusion of the 9th round of India-US Strategic Security Dialogue. It was co-chaired by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale and Andrea Thompson, the US Under Secretary of state for arms control and international security, on March 13, 2019.

First of all, this policy decision of the caretaker Narendra Modi government in India is both illegal and illegitimate as general elections are going on in the country to elect a new Parliament and the new government. Only the incoming government can and should decide on such an important policy issue. As a matter of fact, the nuclear deals and businesses often violate the national laws and the people’s sentiments and interests.

Secondly, India and the US signed an agreement to cooperate in civil nuclear energy sector in October 2008 and it remained a paper exercise for more than a decade. After wasting so much of national time, energy and resources on this useless India-US nuclear deal, they have just announced the construction of six American reactors without divulging crucial information such as the supplier, the site/s of construction, terms and conditions of the sale etc.

The people of India feel insulted by this kind of undemocratic and arrogant decision-making processes without consulting the peoples of both the countries in their national legislatures. The ‘longest’ and ‘largest’ democracies tend to behave like the worst dictators when it comes to nuclear issue.

Thirdly, the hypocritical US administration compromises the non-proliferation values and interests of humanity when it comes to its own selfish business interests. They lobbied with the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to give India a special waiver enabling it to sign cooperation agreements with a dozen countries. As a result, India signed civil nuclear cooperation agreements with the US, France, Russia, Canada, Argentina, Australia, Sri Lanka, the UK, Japan, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and South Korea.

Rendering the Non-Proliferation Treaty a cruel joke, the United States reaffirmed its strong support to India’s early membership in the 48-member NSG. It is pertinent to note that India has not signed the NPT so far.

Fourthly, the same hypocritical US administration is strongly objecting to the civil nuclear programs of Iran and North Korea. It is not clear why or how the nuclear power programs of these two countries become so dangerous while the nuclear reactors in India, Israel and everywhere else remain so benign and acceptable.

Obviously, the American stand and viewpoints on the nuclear issue are so hypocritical, self-centered and profit-oriented. It is highly objectionable to buy their nuclear reactors for India. India, being a highly and densely populated country, should put the safety and security concerns of its own citizens ahead of the business interests of its imperial partner. India should think and act like an independent leader and not as a slave of domineering United States.

People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE),
National Alliance of Anti-nuclear Movements (NAAM)