Copenhagen accord not in India''s interests, says BJP
New Delhi, Dec 22 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) expressing discontent over India''s stand on the Copenhagen Climate Accord, on Tuesday said the documents clearly betrayed the developing nations, and the interests of the country had not been protected.
Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said, "The accord says one thing, the government understands another."
The developing countries have been betrayed in the name of the Copenhagen Summit, and the accord helps the developed countries to avoid the commitments they made under the Kyoto Protocol, added Jaitley.
Lashing out at the government, Jaitley said: " The problem with the government is that it is suffering from the Sharma-el-Sheikh syndrome."
Prior to Jaitley''s comments, Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh put forward the point that the sovereignty of the country has been well placed and tabled the strategies of the Central Government post-Copenhagen. He said the Copenhagen accord protects India''s interests.
Ramesh said: " The Copenhagen Accord was not adopted, it was taken care of."
"Copenhagen accord is not legally binding," he added.
The United States and four major developing countries India, China, South Africa and Brazil reached a legally non-binding agreement on cutting greenhouse gas emissions and restricting the increase in temperature to two degree Celsius.
Ramesh added that Copenhagen conference decided to continue negotiations under the mandate of Kyoto Protocol and Bali Action Plan to be completed at the end of 2010.
Ramesh said the report of mitigation actions, supported or unsupported, will be made to the Secretariat of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) through the National Communications that will be made every two years.
On Monday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh talked about the Copenhagen developments at his office in Parliament. US President Barack Obama''s comments with respect to BASIC- Brazil, South Africa, India and China might allow both the sides to claim victory.
Developing countries wanted 30-35 percentage emission cuts from the developed world, but had to settle for just 20-25 percentage at the Copenhagen Summit. (ANI)