Modi on a nuclear shopping spree, with Manmohan Singh’s old bag in his hand

'If untamed inflation, cries of corruption and impunity of ministers with serious criminal cases were not enough to give us a feel of continuity with the last government, the new Indian PM’s foreign visits would definitely provide us with the familiar air of the Congress government. On the sidelines of the ongoing BRICS meet, Modi has invited Vladimir Putin for a visit to Koodankulam in December this year when the second reactor in Koodankulam is supposed to be started. Earlier this month, Narendra Modi assured the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius of no rethink on the Jaitapur project where France’s nuclear giant Areva has been contracted to set up the world’s largest nuclear power park. Modi is expected to visit Japan soon to finalise a nuclear supply agreement. Later in September he will be visiting the United States where again furthering nuclear commerce would be a highlight...

It appears that India’s anachronistic push for nuclear energy in the face of global shift away from nuclear power after Fukushima is evidently independent of any domestic regime change and reflects the consensus of the ruling elite to use its own people’s lives and ecological risks as a bargain chip at the international stage. If there were any doubts because the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) had opposed the India-US nuclear agreement in the parliament when it was in the opposition, its newly formed government has put an emphatic end to them. Both in terms of squandering the lessons of Fukushima and repressing the dissident voices on nuclear issues, Modi will run faster with the torch he has inherited from his predecessor.'