Does the 123 deal with the US mean India can never test again? Of course, it can. Testing is its sovereign right. But Delhi must be ready to pay the price. And that would be so irrespective of whether the deal was in place or not. So, what’s all the fuss about?

Drawing the curtains on some really nail biting moments, the 123 Indo-US nuclear deal is finally done, sealed and delivered. Consequently, India can now hope to be allowed out of the technological doghouse it had been consigned to nearly 35 years ago. Doomsday specialists are still trying to convince inflammable segments of the public that somehow India has allowed itself to be trapped into a sinister plot which would hold the country in perpetual bondage to American interests. US House Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Rep. Howard Berman’s assertion that US must call off the deal if India tests a nuclear device Together with President George W. Bush’s note to the Congress that Washington is not bound by any permanent guarantees to supply nuclear fuel to India (irrespective of what Delhi does) helped fuel doubts.

A couple of points need reiteration in an attempt to bring clarity to some issues which have created more heat than light in the ongoing quibbling. First, one must not forget that the Hyde Act has the status of domestic law of the US. It is fudge if India continues to assert that having signed the 123 agreement, the Hyde Act has become irrelevant. The US executive has repeatedly assured the Congress that 123 does not and, indeed, cannot bypass provisions of the US domestic law. What 123 does attempt to do is sweeten the deal. Two issues that continued to raise hackles till the end were India’s right to test and assurances of fuel supply to the safeguarded reactors.