No compromise on independent foreign policy: PM

India has been following independent foreign policy and will be doing that in future too. “India will never allow any extraneous interference in the conduct of our independent foreign policy,” the Prime Minister said at a meeting of senior journalists called by him at his residence Tuesday.

This was the first formal comment made by him after the Left withdrew support to the Congress-led UPA government on July 8 of this month.

In his attempt to eradicate any scepticism on safeguards agreements with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Dr. Singh said, “The safeguards agreements will in no way impinge on our strategic programme.”

Further elaborating the deal with the US, he said, it is in the interests of India. The agreements will not only win for us the international cooperation in civil nuclear energy, but will also made us to trade in nuclear fuel and technology with all the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers' Group countries including USA, France, Russia, and China.

The Prime Minister completely wiped out the Left's and the chief Opposition Party, BJP, allegations that the safeguards agreements would compromise India's strategic programme.

Dr. Singh said the agreement will never hamper our strategic programme. It is entirely outside the purview of the IAEA safeguards agreement. Instead of incurring any harm to India, the agreements with IAEA followed by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, NSG waiver would end the era of nuclear apartheid against India.

Apart from nuclear deal, the Prime Minister also laid emphasis on the government’s steps to curb the inflation which is not aggravated by the domestic cause rather it was the reflection of international soaring of crude oil prices.

He also spoke in length the initiatives being taken to enhance agricultural production and farmers' welfare.

Dr. Singh wished that the mainstay of the democratic set up--the people of India understood the significance of the initiatives being taken by the UPA Government and endorse them.

Though he expressed confidence that the government would pass the trust vote scheduled for July 22, but said the government’s primary aim is to conclude the nuclear deal, which is in national interests, even at the cost of our government.