Maverick's World

M. M. Sampath Kumar Iyengar and the NPA Angst

A friend emailed me this link to an article by M. M. Sampath Kumar Iyengar.

I recalled reading something years ago on the NTI website

7 August 1997 Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) suspends production of engines for the Prithvi surface-to-surface missile (SSM) as one its key suppliers, Ascent Technologies Pvt. Ltd., halts the supply of "cooling rings" used in the engines. HAL officials say that they have not received cooling rings for almost one year. Ascent Technologies proprietor M. M. Sampath Kumar Iyengar declares that he will not do business with government companies including HAL, pending settlements of previous bills. HAL officials say that they are trying to persuade Iyengar to resume supplies.—"Indian missile production stops over money row: daily," AFP, 7 August 1997, in Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, 7 August 1997.

Ofcourse I know that Sampath Kumar "Iyangar" is posting on the NPA Jihadi forum, as opposed to Sampath Kumar *Iyengar* who has shall we say "financial issues" outstanding with the DAE.

I leave you to do the rest but I should point out that our friends next door already identify him as a manufacturer of nuclear materials and therefore an expert on all things DAE related. To be very specific the South Asia Tribune says:

The writer is featured in the Directory of Experts in Technology Acquisition compiled in 1990 by Dept of S&T, New Delhi. He chose to abandon his flourishing venture specializing in the development of components for nuclear and aerospace applications protesting against irresponsible environmental practices and WMD proliferation.

Wow note the contrast with what is written in more plain text in the NTI database entry!

Ofcourse Sampathkumar has also written at length about the impotent rage of Muslims, and how Indians and Iranians are unfit to hold nuclear arsenals. And he also felt that plagiarism by some Indian sounding student at Harvard was indicative of a "cultural trend" (Incidentally, why would an out-of-work-engineer-turned-non-proliferationist sitting in Ahmedabad be reading the Harvard Crimson of all things?) Given the frequency with which Sampathkumar Iyangar gets quoted by US friendly websites as an authority on anything and the manner in which he seems to thrive on saying how stupid and incompetent his fellow Indians are, I am beginning to think that the only thing Indian about him is his name.

Still I find it amusing that Sampathkumar who argued that Indian nuclear scientists were thoroughly incompetent on various fora and therefore unworthy of the US nuclear deal now finds himself completely off balance when the same Indian nuclear scientists are saying that they don't want the India-US nuclear deal.

The NPA has been arguing consistently that the deal should not go through because "evil Indian nuclear scientists" (copyright Sampathkumar) will treat it as a license to build nuclear weapons. The NPA also virulently opposed the draft of the nuclear bill in Congress saying that it gave too much license to India to do whatever it pleased in the nuclear arena.

But now with the very same Indian scientists saying they don't want this so-called India-US nuclear deal and they really don't want to have anything to do with that draft that is up before congress. These Indian scientists are now saying that the Bush Adminstration has moved the "goalposts" since it signed the July 18 agreement with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The NPA are now completely at a loss to explain why the Indian scientists who they said would have a complete license to do what they pleased are now calling against the bill. This doesn't fit their model in any way. It doesn't matter I suppose because the NPA firmly believe no one will notice this.

When the congressional groups amended the draft of the bill, I said the deal was dead. Let me restate that - despite what garbage the NPA put on the TV screens, and weblogs - this Indo-US nuclear deal is dead.

With those conditions tagged on to the draft of the Indo-US nuclear bill, no Indian government will ever buy anything from a US nuclear supplier, the political cost will be unbearable in India.

There will have to be a second round of negotiations if this deal is to go anywhere but that second round will be marred politically by the memory of the mess made in this round.

The congressional rewrite smacks of a desire by people in Congress to publicly correct the "errors" made by President Bush. If President Bush cannot bring to heel a Republican party dominated congress, then that will be at the back of our minds when we talk to someone in the US the next time around.

This is a new experience for most Indian policymakers who generally hold that whatever is stamped with the approval of the President especially one with the last name Bush is written into stone.

If that is no longer true, then we are heading into a very different world.

posted by maverick @ 6:45 AM