Manmohan Singh addresses the media on Monday. (PTI)

On Board Prime Minister’s Special Aircraft, July 7: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, appearing more confident and ebullient than he usually has in his four-plus years in office, today unambiguously stated that India would formally go to the IAEA “very soon”.

The Prime Minister added that he would seek the support of global leaders — many of whom he will meet over the next two days at the G8 summit in Japan — to push India’s case both at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in order to seal the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Manmohan’s press conference, held many hours before the news from Kabul darkened the mood, was marked by a palpable “feel-good” air. Having successfully sewn up a survival strategy for his government before his all-important meeting with George W. Bush and other world leaders in Japan, the Prime Minister was alternately dismissive and patronising towards his erstwhile Left allies whose veto had become ineffective in stalling the Indo-US nuclear deal.

The Left will meet tomorrow in Delhi for an “appropriate” response to the government’s stand.

Without making any reference to the domestic deal with the Samajwadi Party, Singh dismissively cast aside the Left’s threat of pulling out, saying: “I am not worried. As and when the contingency arrives, we are well equipped to deal with it.” To another question, he cryptically replied: “I don’t foresee an election before time.”

On Advani’s demand that the government face a floor test once the Left withdraws support, he said: “We will cross that bridge when we come to it. We are not afraid of facing Parliament. We will abide by all the parliamentary norms that should apply to a great democracy that India is. Mr Advani need not give any advice to us (on this).”

But savouring his moment of victory after almost a year-long battle with the Left over the nuclear deal, the Prime Minister also sought to adopt a gracious, if somewhat patronising, tone towards his defeated opponents.

“They are our colleagues, valuable colleagues I still very much hope that we can find a way out that will be mutually satisfactory to all concerned. I sincerely believe that this is a deal which is in India’s interest. It recognises the arrival of India on the global scene, and that all patriotic citizens of our country, if they study the whole thing carefully, will be convinced that this is in India’s long-term interest of energy security and of our access to dual-use technologies.”

When a journalist pointed out that there was little chance of the Left coming around at this stage and asked whether he was sad and disappointed at not being able to convince the Left or felt relieved that he wouldn’t have them breathing down his neck for the rest of the term, the Prime Minister merely repeated his earlier platitude.

“I respect the sentiments of the Left, they are patriots. There is unfortunately differences in our perceptions (but) I sincerely hope we can find some way in which we can resolve these differences in a manner that the deal can go through,” he said.

On the Left’s concerns about an independent foreign policy, Manmohan said he had assured Parliament and repeated in public that “India is too big a country to kowtow to any other country”, that India’s foreign policy “will be determined only in reference to what is in India’s interest”.

Clearly, however, his concerns were no longer the polemics back home but the hard lobbying India needs to do to get the IAEA approval for the India-specific safeguards agreement and the “clean exemption” from the 45-member NSG.

Since most of the nations – both G8, Outreach or O5 and the other countries attending the Japan summit -- are members of either IAEA or NSG or both, this will be the ideal forum for India to press its case.

The Prime Minister, in fact, did not wait for any questions to make this point emphatically. Pointing out that he was scheduled to have bilateral meetings with a host of leaders – Bush, Medvedev, Fukuda, Hu Jintao, and the Prime Ministers or presidents of Canada, Australia, Mexico, Korea and Indonesia --, Manmohan said: “Naturally, the issue of civil nuclear cooperation will figure in all these discussions”.

He will impress upon these leaders that “as and when it goes before the IAEA and NSG, we obviously seek the support of the world community in these fora.”

To a specific query on China’s stance on the issue, the Prime Minister repeated what he has said on a couple of occasions in the past – “I cannot say I have a firm assurance but I have a strong feeling that when the matter comes before the relevant international fora, China will not be a problem.”

He was much more confident about the support of the western nations. Giving a glimpse of what he will discuss with Bush, Manmohan said: “Well, I will tell him what I have always told him – that we remain committed to the civil nuclear cooperation agreement. It has been my effort and will be my effort to push the agreement and that our government stands committed.”

He added that “as far as the precise date (when we will formally send the draft agreement to the IAEA board of governors) I would not like to say it when we are abroad but we will very soon.”

The Prime Minister also indicated that if India went ahead to the IAEA, the US would do its bit to push for an NSG waiver. Asked to spell out a time frame, he said: “Let me say that as soon as we decide to go to IAEA, the matter is in the court of its board of governors and we would certainly hope the board can take a quick decision.”

Since India’s case had the support of major powers such as the US, Russia, France and Britain, “I don’t expect the decision to be a problem but I cannot anticipate how much time it will take”, he said.

And once India took the decision (of going to the IAEA), “the United States will have to fulfill its promises,” the Prime Minister said, pointing out that “there is the July 2005 statement in which the US has publicly stated they will help us to get through the IAEA and NSG. I hope they will do their work.”