NEW DELHI: Congress on Saturday hailed the NSG waiver for India as "historic" and said it was a significant victory not only for the UPA but for all Indians.
"It is a historic day for India. It is a red letter day," party spokesman Manish Tiwari said moments after reports from Vienna spoke of India getting the waiver by consensus.
He said it was indeed a significant victory not only the UPA but for all Indians.
Samajwadi Party termed the waiver as a great victory for India and said it would help the country in its development.
"India needs development and not nuclear bombs," SP General Secretary Amar Singh said, criticising the opposition parties for "beating around the bush".
Quoting former President A P J Abdul Kalam, he said India required no more nuclear tests as the previous two tests have proved that the country is a nuclear-capable state.
Senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member Abhishek Singhvi said the clean unconditional NSG waiver was a testimony to New Delhi's exemplary track record globally in the nuclear arena.
"India's ceaseless efforts have brone fruit. The only sad part is that while India was putting its case so strongly and ably at the international fora, bad losers like the Left and opposition were continuing their opposition till the eleventh hour after exhausting all democratic forms of protests," he said.
They should introspect about the constructive and reposponsible role of opposition in democracy, he said.
BJP reacted sharply to the waiver, claiming that the country has fallen into the nuclear non-proliferation trap.
"India has forever lost the right to conduct nuclear tests. The NSG waiver has come after so many deliberations... obviously there have been give aways by India," Former External Affairs Minister and party leader Yashwant Sinha said here.
He said NSG guidelines are as stiff as the Hyde Act. "US has gone for the deal because it sees India as a lucrative market for nuclear energy," he said.
Commenting on Congress party's jubilation post the NSG waiver, Sinha said, "Congress has said that the nuclear Apartheid has ended. They are trying to discard the legacy of Indira Gandhi, because the nuclear Apartheid had started after the 1974 Pokhran nuclear test."
He said the electricity that would be provided in India during the post-deal era, would be quite costly.
