India's top foreign ministry official has denied the country's nuclear weapons programme has been compromised by last month's nuclear deal with Washington.
"We have preserved all our basic positions. We have preserved our basic interests," foreign secretary Shyam Saran said in a transcript of a television interview published by the Press Trust of India on Sunday.
He also dismissed suggestions that New Delhi would come under pressure from Washington to cap its nuclear weapons programme, saying the deal only referred to co-operation in civilian nuclear technology.
"I see no reason why there should be anxieties that we are always vulnerable to pressure," Saran was quoted as saying in an interview to an Indian TV channel to be broadcast later Sunday. "Why are we always so worried about screws being tightened on us...as if someone can come and turn the screws on us and we just lie back and be screwed."
Saran, who was in Washington late last month to put India's case to US lawmakers, said in his interview that he was not disappointed.
"What is very important is that there should be bipartisan support in this initiative," Saran said.
But he ruled out any adjustments to the text of the proposed deal saying, "revisions will not be made."
"It is very important to remember that whatever we have agreed upon is the result of very, very difficult, very tough negotiations.
"What we have at this point of time is an extremely carefully, delicately balanced understanding. Whatever legislation that is passed must remain within those parameters," he said.
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