Congress Alleges SHANTI Bill Was Rushed to Appease US, Cites Trump-Era NDAA
Congress claims SHANTI Bill bulldozed to appease US president.
The Congress party has escalated its criticism of the government's rapid passage of the Sustainable Harnessing and Advancement of Nuclear Energy for Transforming India (SHANTI) Bill, 2025, alleging that it was deliberately expedited through Parliament to address longstanding US concerns over nuclear liability rules and facilitate warmer ties with United States President Donald Trump, whom opposition leaders refer to as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "once good friend."
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh drew direct connections to the recently enacted US National Defence Authorisation Act for fiscal year 2026, pointing to a specific provision on page 1,912 that establishes a joint consultative mechanism within the US-India Strategic Security Dialogue to evaluate India's nuclear liability framework and explore alignments with international standards under the 2008 civil nuclear cooperation agreement.
Ramesh contended that modifications in the SHANTI Bill, particularly the alterations to key elements of the unanimously passed 2010 Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act—including the effective removal of supplier liability—were designed to resolve persistent objections from American nuclear vendors, thereby enabling deeper bilateral cooperation in the sector.
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The opposition figure humorously proposed rechristening the legislation as the "TRUMP Act," standing for "The Reactor Use and Management Promise Act," underscoring his view that the bill prioritizes external diplomatic considerations over robust domestic safeguards and public sector dominance in a strategically sensitive domain.
Both houses of Parliament approved the SHANTI Bill on December 18, 2025, marking a significant reform by permitting private sector involvement in nuclear energy development for the first time, with the government framing it as essential for achieving energy self-reliance, scaling capacity to 100 GW by 2047, and transitioning away from fossil fuels, while opposition parties raised alarms over potential compromises on safety, regulatory independence, and victim compensation mechanisms.
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