After India Fails NSG Bid, Opposition Calls it 'Failed Modi Diplomacy'

New Delhi: Congress and other Opposition parties targeted the Narendra Modi government over India's failure to clinch a membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) calling it a diplomacy failure.

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi, who is out of the country, hit out at Modi tweeting, "NSG: How to lose a negotiation by Narendra Modi #FailedModiDiplomacy"

Congress chief spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala tweeted, "Indo-US nuclear deal by Congress in 2008 opened the gate for India's membership of technology control regimes. Seoul a diplomatic failure. NDA must develop on bilateral civil nuclear deals of UPA which ended 34 year long nuclear apartheid without joining NPT & CTBT. A dozen of our allies including Swiss, Austria, Brazil & New Zealand abandoned us in Seoul. Dramatization of diplomacy is isolating us."

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who never misses to an opportunity to target the Centre, too attacked Modi saying he owed an explanation on his foreign trips. "PM Modi has completely failed on foreign policy front. He owes explanation on what did he do on his foreign jaunts?"

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Subramanian Swamy tweeted, "On NSG, the vote against India by Swiss and Brazil also needs investigation."

In a clear setback to India's efforts to join the 48-nation grouping, a two-day NSG plenary ended in Seoul after deciding against accepting India's membership application.

China, which had made no secret of its opposition, succeeded in scuttling India's bid despite a significant majority backing the Indian case. Thirty-eight countries supported India, according to Indian officials.

Beijing was unrelenting in thwarting India despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Tashkent on Thursday to support India's case on its merits.

An upset India later accused "one country", a clear reference to China, of persistently creating procedural hurdles during the discussions on its application.

"We understand that despite procedural hurdles persistently raised by one country, a three-hour-long discussion took place on the issue of future participation in the NSG," External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.

"The NSG plenary in Seoul earlier in the day decided against granting India membership of the grouping immediately and said it will continue to have discussions on participation of countries which have not signed the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"An overwhelming number of those who took the floor supported India's membership and appraised India's application positively. We thank each and every one of them. It is also our understanding that the broad sentiment was to take this matter forward," he said.

Besides China, countries like Brazil, Switzerland, Turkey, Austria, Ireland, New Zealand were also opposed to India's entry because it is not a signatory to Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

In its statement, at the conclusion of the plenary, NSG declared its "firm support" for the "full, complete and effective" implementation of the NPT as the cornerstone of the international non-proliferation regime.

However, it said it had discussions on the issue of 'Technical, Legal and Political Aspects of the Participation of non-NPT States in the NSG' and decided to continue its discussion.

(With additional information from PTI)