'How can a US law like Hyde Act apply to us?'

OPINION

If you want to interpret everything with the Hyde Act, I cannot help it. Nobody can help it. The Hyde Act is a legislation enabling the US administration, the US president, to have a waiver to enter into a civilian nuclear programme with India, which is a non-NPT country, which is a nuclear-weapon country not recognised but with strategic programmes. According to the 1954 Act, the USA cannot cooperate with that country. Therefore, in that Act, they require a waiver. That waiver has been provided by the Hyde Act.

While providing the Hyde Act, one thing has been pointed out. Who is to interpret the Hyde Act? I have myself stated that there are many prescriptive and extraneous issues in the Hyde Act which are not binding on us. How can it be binding on us? As a law passed by the Indian Parliament is not binding on the US Congressmen, similarly, a law passed by the US Congressmen may be binding on the US administration but not on India. The only binding agreement on India is the 123 Agreement.

I will most respectfully submit to the honourable members to show me one clause.

Yes, I know that somebody will get up and say that the question of the national law is there. Yes, that is the standard practice of all international agreements. It is equally true that in Clause 14, there are references to the Vienna Convention and references to the international laws in case of disputes. That was the mandate which we gave to the negotiators to enter into negotiation with their American interlocutors. We told them quite clearly, I myself, at one point of time when I had to intervene, told: "Look, this is unacceptable."

I told them that the nine points which the Prime Minister specifically referred on the floor of Parliament and gave his commitment are to be preserved in the text and there will be no reference to the Hyde Act. Most respectfully, Mr Deputy-Speaker, sir, I can claim that we have done it.

So, my submission would be that we are accepting the obligations under Section 123 of the US Atomic Energy Act of 1954, not under the Hyde Act. The Hyde Act is an enabling provision. That is for the US Administration to deal with it and they have assured us that it would not stand in their way of implementing the commitment which they made in the Joint Statement of July, 2005 and in the Separation Plan of March, 2006. Therefore, Mr. Deputy-Speaker, Sir, I would like to submit that let us look into the 123 Agreement.

I will just conclude my observations by narrating one incident. It happened not in this House but in the other House. I was a Member of that House at that point of time. It is being told today that sovereignty has been mortgaged. Mr Deputy-Speaker, Sir, fortunately or unfortunately, whatever it may be, I have been in the governments of several Congress Prime Ministers from the seventies. At least, I have been accused not less than three times of mortgaging India's sovereignty. Once I mortgaged India's 'sovereignty' when I entered into an extended funding facility with IMF by borrowing five billion SDRs

When we returned the last instalment of 1.2 billion SDRs, I told in one of my speeches: "Many of you told me like self-styled Cassandra prophecy that I will come out of the IMF building on a stretcher. I have come out of the IMF building with my head on my shoulder and on my foot, and not on the stretcher."

Similarly, again when we signed the WTO Agreement, they said that 'sovereignty' had been mortgaged and it went to such an extent. I can understand that. The Left opposed then and the Left opposed now.

Now, as I mentioned, the Indian Patent Act, 1973 was to be amended as per the International Agreement of IPR. Twice that Bill was rejected in the Rajya Sabha under the command of a great Member of the BJP who later on became the Minister in the NDA regime. ... (Interruptions) I will not take the name of the Member of the other House. But the funny part is this. After some time when the table was turned, when they were in the Government, twice India lost in the international dispute settlement mechanism of WTO.

(Exceprts from Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee's reply to the debate on the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Agreement on November 28 in the Lok Sabha)