Thread by @SiddharthKG7

Around 18:00 Nitendra Singh is talking about how we have to use low quality nuclear fuel in India as we don’t have Uranium.

Here I want to bring ex PM Manmohan Singh ji and his vision. Read this thread for your country.

You see 1991 LPG reforms of India were not the final reforms. They were just the first instalment of Indian reforms. When MMS got a chance to be the PM in 2004, he was keen to bring the next stage of reforms. Forget Sonia Gandhi’s control here. Control does not mean vision. Whatever happening on structural level was not Sonia’s mind. Politics was her forte.

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So, what did MMS do? He and even Abdul Kalam knew how India needs energy for its aspiration of a superpower. That amount of energy can only be generated by nuclear reactors. But there was a hurdle there.

Nuclear fuel is heavily guarded and controlled in the world. There is a group called Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) which controls trade of nuclear fuel and bans it from selling to countries like India. So, we needed a way to end this ban to buy Uranium freely in world market.

2/

Manmohan Singh Government decided to do a Nuclear Deal with USA. USA President George Bush was first pro India President in long long history of USA. MMS took full advantage of it and brought him on table. USA decided to get India a waiver from NSG and USA congress.

First understand why India was banned by NSG. Here comes another world organisation called IAEA. This agency inspects all nuclear establishments of the world to make them follow safety protocols.

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India had not given permission to IAEA to inspect Indian Nuclear reactors. Why? Because India had military and civil nuclear reactors combined. It violates IAEA guidelines.

So, Manmohan Singh quickly agreed to segregate military and civil plants in 2005 and give access to IAEA to check Civil nuclear establishments. This opened the door for NSG waiver.

4/

In 2006, Bush and Manmohan Singh from Delhi declared that they will go ahead with the nuclear deal. Bush administration started the process in USA.

But another problem started in India. MMS govt was not clear majority government. It had the support of left parties. Almost all opposition parties and Left parties threatened the Govt to stop such deal with USA. They were unhappy that India is going too close to USA. Almost becoming a US ally.

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Narrow minded stupid politicians did not understand what MMS was trying to do. To secure energy needs of India, we needed USA support in NSG.

In all this USA secured no opposition letter from all 48 NSG members to allow Uranium sale to India. Huge win for India and USA.

6/

But in India, Manmohan Government was asked to face No Confidence Motion in Parliament. Left parties withdrew their support. Congress Govt was about to fall. Still firm with his decision, MMS did not bow down and decided to go ahead with much needed nuclear deal.

In that circumstances, Samajwadi Party head Mulayam Singh called Congress and said that they have understood what is this deal and how important it is for India, so despite being in opposition, they will support the Govt in No confidence motion. This was a pleasant surprise for Govt of the day as SP was opposing the deal for a long time.

7/

Suddenly, the dying govt got a new life and won the no confidence vote in Parliament with the support of Samajwadis.

The deal was signed after that. But by now the effect of 2008 economic slowdown shook the economy of world. USA changed the govt and Obama came to power. Mumbai attacks also dented the popular progressive image of Manmohan Singh.

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Obama is definitely not an India supporter (like Biden is not). Republicans like Bush or Trump are pro India.

Hence, the delay caused by politics, economic conditions, and then internal political sabotage of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi against the visionary Manmohan Singh made the deal only worth a paper.

9/

2024 and nothing much has been done with this nuclear deal. India is still facing a huge energy shortage. Last 10 years of Modi Govt has no clue and they focus on Solar energy etc rather than Nuclear Energy.

Indian Nuclear power plants still have to use low quality fuel and it is hurting us all.

Vision is still there but there seems no one bold enough to actually act on it.

BJP was the leading party to oppose the nuclear deal in 2008.

10/10

Here get an idea with a recent example. How hard it was for Modi Govt to explain the farm laws to people and ultimately they had to withdraw.
Now imagine how hard it must be for MMS to explain a complicated thing like nuclear deal with USA in 2005 to Indians and opposition.