Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tried Thursday to calm fears of India's political and scientific establishments that a historic civilian nuclear deal with the United States would blunt India's nuclear weapons program.

Singh, wearing his trademark pale blue turban, spoke for more than an hour, beginning with a surprisingly emotional preface in which he promised to "discharge my duties for the country to the last ounce of my blood".

The prime minister took the offensive with quotes from "The Prince," Niccolo Machiavelli's medieval treatise on statecraft, to present himself as a man unafraid to take unpopular political decisions for the good of the nation.

"It must be considered that there is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things," quoted Singh.

He said the deal was crucial to meet the energy needs of power-starved India which is aiming to sustain annual economic growth of eight to 10 percent.

The premier's comments came in response to criticism of the deal from eight nuclear scientists, opposition groups as well as Singh's own left-wing legislative allies.

On Friday, the Hindu newspaper applauded his performance before parliament, saying it indicated a "transformed" man.

"In a way Singh won the day even before he came down to the specifics of the nuclear deal," political editor Harish Khare wrote.

Under the pact, India has agreed to open most of its atomic reactors to international inspection but is allowed to keep pre-selected military nuclear facilities out of public scrutiny.

In return, India will receive unfettered access to long-denied US nuclear technology to generate power.

Washington has been withholding civilian nuclear know-how from India since 1974 when New Delhi conducted its first atomic test. New Delhi conducted more tests in 1998.

The deal, passed by the House of Representatives 359-68, now has to be approved by the US Senate.

However some US lawmakers are demanding a greater convergence of views between New Delhi and Washington on foreign policy, most notably on Iran.

Others have also questioned whether India can be trusted with critical nuclear secrets and have demanded that more stringent safeguards be put in place.

Singh assured Indian lawmakers that he would not accept any fettering of India's strategic program or "shifting of goalposts".

"We will not accept any conditions that go beyond the July 18 and the March 2 (accords)," Singh said, referring to meetings between him and US President George W. Bush in Washington and in New Delhi during which the deal was negotiated.

Strategic analyst C. Raja Mohan called Singh's performance "impressive".

"He's gaining in stature and confidence and that's very good news," Raja Mohan told AFP. "He's willing to respond to his political opponents in a political manner, no longer only in a defensive or a technocratic manner."

Raja Mohan, who called the technical debate a "pseudo-debate," said Singh addressed the larger question of who should control Indian foreign policy.

"The prime minister has finally stood up to defend the constitutional right of his government to conduct foreign policy," Raja Mohan wrote in his column Friday in the Indian Express newspaper.

Many of the deal's critics said they were reassured by the speech, but opposition politicians and some strategic experts said they were unconvinced.

"The fact that he stood his ground and provided assurances of various kinds was soothing to the ears of many," said Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the independent Center for Policy Research in New Delhi.

"(But) if you read his speech very carefully it is short on specifics and long on platitudes."

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