Diffident Manmohan hailed for speech on nuke deal

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tried Thursday to calm fears of India's political and scientific establishments that a historic civilian nuclear deal with the United States would blunt India's nuclear weapons programme.

Singh, wearing his trademark pale blue turban, spoke for more than an hour, beginning with a surprisingly emotional preface in which he promised to "discharge my duties for the country to the last ounce of my blood".

The prime minister took the offensive with quotes from "The Prince," Niccolo Machiavelli's medieval treatise on statecraft, to present himself as a man unafraid to take unpopular political decisions for the good of the nation.

"It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things," quoted Singh.

He said the deal was crucial to meet the energy needs of power-starved India, which is aiming to sustain annual economic growth of eight to 10 percent.

The premier's comments came in response to criticism of the deal from eight nuclear scientists, opposition groups as well as Singh's own left-wing legislative allies.

On Friday, the Hindu newspaper applauded his performance before parliament, saying it indicated a "transformed" man.

"In a way Singh won the day even before he came down to the specifics of the nuclear deal," political editor Harish Khare wrote.

Under the pact, India has agreed to open most of its atomic reactors to international inspection but is allowed to keep pre-selected military nuclear facilities out of public scrutiny.

In return, India will receive unfettered access to long-denied US nuclear technology to generate power.

Washington has been withholding civilian nuclear know-how from India since 1974 when New Delhi conducted its first atomic test. New Delhi conducted more tests in 1998.

The deal, passed by the House of Representatives 359-68, now has to be approved by the US Senate.

However some US lawmakers are demanding a greater convergence of views between New Delhi and Washington on foreign policy, most notably on Iran.

Others have also questioned whether India can be trusted with critical nuclear secrets and have demanded that more stringent safeguards be put in place.