Nuclear liability: Congress cautions govt against ‘bypassing’ legal framework

Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma said the civil nuclear liability law was passed by the UPA government in 2010 after consultations with all political parties, particularly the then main opposition BJP. The BJP had strong reservations and changes were made to key clauses in the Act at the instance of the then leader of the opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley. It reflected the national consensus.

But the government has so far not shared the details of the deliberations and possible agreement with the principal opposition and other political parties. “Whatever be the solution for the operationalisation of the agreement, it has to be within the four corners of the Indian legal framework and the Act of Parliament. There cannot be any understanding bypassing either the legal framework or Parliament of India and also undermining the national consensus on this issue,” he said.

“We went by national consensus… When it comes to operationalisation, we have a legal framework… If there are any concerns to be addressed, we are not saying don’t address the concerns, those has to be within the legal framework of the country. The government must not try to act in a manner which is opaque and which creates doubts and misgivings,” he added.

Sharma also attacked the government for talking about taking the joint session route to get key bills passed. “Everything has become a threat. Instead of building consensus and cooperation in Parliament, Narendra Modi and his government from day one has chosen the path of conflict and confrontation. It is unfortunate,” he said. He called Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement in Davos on joint Parliament session an “irresponsible statement on the foreign soil”.

Taking a dig at the BJP, he said the PM should take the opportunity of the US President’s visit to allow FDI in multi-brand retail and “admit the mistake” of opposing the move and rectify its position.