Left rebuffs Sibal, says entire Hyde Act is built into 123

The Left parties on Saturday rejected as “desperate daydreaming” Union Minister Kapil Sibal’s statement that they have agreed to the primacy of 123 agreement...

The Left parties on Saturday rejected as “desperate daydreaming” Union Minister Kapil Sibal’s statement that they have agreed to the primacy of 123 agreement over the Hyde Act. “The Left has now agreed to the position that where there is a conflict between the Hyde Act and the 123 agreement, the 123 agreement prevails. That position has been agreed to,” Sibal had told The Indian Express Idea Exchange on Friday.

Vehemently refuting Sibal, a Left source who wanted to be anonymous since the UPA-Left committee on nuclear deal was still functional, told The Sunday Express that Left’s position has always been that the Hyde Act is completely inbuilt into the 123 agreement and the question of which gets precedence is irrelevant. “The Left positions on the Hyde Act, 123 agreement and its provisions on reprocessing rights and termination rights remain the same as it was on day one. This will be clear once we make all the exchanges between us and the Government public once the committee is over,” the source said.

Indeed, the latest Left note to the UPA on October 5 states that the “UPA’s response that the Hyde Act is either not binding on India, or is overridden by the 123 agreement is not relevant”. The note, which has not been publicised, says: “The key issue here is that as an enabling mechanism exempting the civilian nuclear agreement from certain provisions of the US Atomic Energy Act of 1954, the Hyde Act has also defined limits of the 123 agreement. It has also set up various reporting and oversight mechanisms. It has prescribed what the US must do in the NSG negotiations so that India cannot get more favourable terms from the NSG than what the US has given. Finally, it has not only defined the conditions for termination of the agreement if India violates what the US Congress considers as Indian commitments, but also what the US administration should do if the agreement is terminated. All these provisions of the Hyde Act are not in conflict with the 123 Agreement. Therefore, the UPA’s response that the Hyde Act is either not binding on India, or is overridden by the 123 agreement is not relevant.”

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Responding to the Left, the UPA note on October 8 said: “The 123 agreement, when it becomes law with US Congressional approval, will override the Hyde Act.”

At another place in the October 5 note, the Left had agreed 123 agreement could get precedence, but the source said: “Sibal has taken it out of context and twisted it”.

The relevant portion says: “It is true that the Hyde Act is an internal US legislation. But it becomes an integral part of the 123 agreement through Article 2.1 that requires conformity with national laws. Therefore it is erroneous to claims that the Hyde Act is of concern only to the US and not to India. It is correct that once the 123 agreement is approved by the US Congress, it will have precedence over the Hyde Act, but only to the extent that they conflict with each other and not where they do not conflict or cover the same ground.”

The source told The Indian Express that since the Left did not find any conflict between the Hyde Act and 123 agreement, it has repeatedly rejected UPA contentions to the contrary.

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