Not a Modi breakthrough, Australia's ruling party approved uranium sales to India in 2011: Congress
The Indian National Congress has challenged the BJP's claim that a recent uranium export agreement with Australia is a breakthrough achieved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The opposition party cites historical records from 2011 to argue that the policy was initiated under the previous government.
Why it matters
This reflects the intense political competition in India over foreign policy achievements and historical credit-taking.
The Congress on Friday (July 10, 2026) slammed the BJP for projecting that Australia's uranium sales to India are Prime Minister Narendra Modi's breakthrough and pointed out that in December 2011, then Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard got the approval of her party to sell uranium to India following the Indo-U.S. Nuclear pact.
The Opposition party's assertion came after BJP IT department head Amit Malviya said that in 2010, Australia refused to sell uranium to India, but under Modi's leadership, the two countries have struck a uranium export agreement.
Rejecting the BJP's assertions, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "The BJP ecosystem is on an overdrive to show that Australia's uranium sales to India are a Modi breakthrough. On Dec 4 2011, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard got approval of her party to sell uranium to India following the India-US Nuclear Agreement of Oct 2008."
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