New Delhi, July 21 (Inditop.com) With the opposition criticizing the end-user monitoring pact that India and the US have inked, the government said it will table a statement on the subject in parliament Tuesday.
The pact, on verifying the end-use of US military hardware that India purchases, was signed Monday in the presence of External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna and visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and will pave way for more defence deals between the two countries.
A day after the signing, the opposition members in Lok Sabha accused the government of capitulating to US pressure.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Yashwant Sinha raised the issue in the Lok Sabha during zero hour, demanding a statement from the government. He said that the government should not have signed the deal when the house was in session without taking it into confidence.
“We are succumbing to the US pressure,” he maintained.
Associating himself with Sinha’s concerns, Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav said that the issue should be taken very seriously.
Former railways minister Lalu Prasad said the issue did not relate to any party but was intrinsic to the country’s national interests.
“This is a very big security related issue. Government is allowing American experts to examine our security establishments. Everything should be crystal clear,” he said.
The Left also made vocal its opposition to the deal.
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) member Basudev Acharya said that the agreement should have been discussed in the house, while his party colleague Gurudas Dasgupta described it as a “Himalayan blunder”.
Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Sharad Yadav claimed that Indian foreign policy was bowing down to a foreign power and asked the government to make a suo-moto statement. Similar sentiments were expressed by Biju Janata Dal (BJD) member Bhartruhari Mahtab, who said it was a matter of concern that the government had signed the deal when parliament was in session.
After hearing the members express their concern, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who is the leader of the house, got up to state that the government would make a statement on the deal later Tuesday.
