The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE)
Nagercoil 629 002
Tamil Nadu

The Consul General
United States Consulate
Anna Salai
Chennai 600 006

Dear Sir/Madam:

Greetings!

The People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy (PMANE), the Poovulagin Nanbargal (Friends of the Earth), the National Alliance of Anti-nuclear Movements (NAAM), and the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) oppose the sale of American nuclear 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, co-chaired by the Indian 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 the general elections are going on in the country to elect a new Parliament and the next 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 all over the world 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 mere paper exercise for more than a decade. After wasting so much of national time, energy and resources on this deal in both the countries, it has been announced to construct six American reactors without divulging crucial information such as the supplier company, the site/s of construction, terms and conditions of the sale and erection and so on.

The people of India and the United States should 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 the ‘largest’ democracies tend to behave like the worst dictators when it comes to nuclear issue.

Thirdly, the hypocritical US administration compromises on the non-proliferation values and interests of humanity when it comes to its own selfish business interests. The US administration 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 has 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 has 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 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.

India, being a highly and densely populated country, we strongly object to the import of American and other foreign nuclear reactors and to the construction of indigenous reactors. We sincerely appeal to the US administration not to put their business interests ahead of the safety, security and well-being of the entire subcontinent. We plan to approach the Indian citizens all over the country and engage in peaceful and democratic protests against all foreign nuclear deals and to move away from the nuclear energy sector as a whole.

Requesting you to convey our feelings and sentiments to the US administration, we send you our best personal regards and all peaceful wishes.

Cordially,

S. P. Udayakumar, Coordinator: PMANE,
G. Sundarrajan, Coordinator: Poovulagin Nanbargal,
Y. Arul, National Convener: NAPM