Rising criticism threatens India, U.S. nuclear accord

NEW DELHI — The United States gave India nearly everything it wanted in a landmark nuclear-energy deal, but that may not be enough for a vocal chorus of Indian critics.

A wave of opposition has left India's government reeling and raised serious doubts about the deal's future. Critics argue the agreement could undermine India's cherished nuclear-weapons program and allow the U.S. to dictate Indian foreign policy.

Leading the charge are the communist allies of India's prime minister. Beneath their arguments, many see a deeper objection: They don't want New Delhi drawn closer to Washington under any circumstances.

For both countries, the stakes are enormous.

The deal has been repeatedly touted as the foundation of an alliance that could potentially redraw the global balance of power, completing the transformation of a once-hostile relationship between the world's two largest democracies.

U.S. policymakers see India as a counterweight to an ever more powerful China. The deal reverses three decades of American policy by allowing the shipment of nuclear fuel and technology to India, which never signed international nonproliferation accords and has tested atomic weapons.

The two years of painstaking negotiations to reach the deal have also provided President Bush with a foreign-policy achievement amid the Iraq war and other crises.

For India, the benefits are arguably greater. Its booming but energy-starved economy would gain access to much-needed nuclear fuel and technologies that it has been long denied by its refusal to sign nonproliferation accords.

Even though the deal only covers civilian nuclear power, it tacitly acknowledges India as a nuclear-weapons state, giving its weapons program a degree of international legitimacy — and adding to India's growing clout.

[Read full article]