Indian PM says opposition prayed for his death

NEW DELHI, Saturday (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said opposition Hindu nationalists prayed for his death, the latest charge in a war of words sparked by a controversial nuclear energy deal with the United States. Singh's comments were made in an interview published in the latest issue of India Today weekly magazine which hit newsstands today.

Indian police detain activists of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) New Democracy as they burn an effigy of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a demonstration in Siliguri

“They didn't even believe I would last as the prime minister and some leaders even did havans that I should die on a certain day,” Singh said, referring to Hindu prayers in which priests make offerings to a holy fire to appease the gods.

“But I have faith in a higher force. I believe it was my destiny to be the prime minister. I have the courage of conviction,” Singh said without elaborating when or who among the Hindu nationalists prayed for his death.

The magazine said the interview was conducted in June with an agreement that it would be published after New Delhi and Washington finalised their historic nuclear pact. The deal aims to give India access to U.S. nuclear fuel and equipment for the first time in three decades.

But critics, including the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and communist allies of the government, say it compromises India's nuclear security and brings New Delhi under American strategic influence.

The BJP said Singh's comments to India Today could “only be described as rubbish”. “The BJP treats the prime minister as a political opponent and not an enemy,” party General-Secretary Arun Jaitley said in a statement.

“We wish him a very long life. May he live long and see after his tenure comes to an end how India is governed much better by others after him.”