March 6, 2008 Choose Between N-deal
and Government, CPI-M Warns UPA
New Delhi
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Thursday issued a fresh
warning on the India-US nuclear deal stating that the future of the
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government depended on what
decision it took on the pact.
Cautioning the government against going ahead with the agreement
despite opposition from the Left and other parties, the CPI-M said
in an article headlined 'Turning Point Has Arrived' in the party
mouthpiece People's Democracy: "It will amount to a gross violation
of the majority opinion in parliament."
"The Left parties will take all the necessary steps to stop the
government from taking such a harmful step," stated the article by a
'political commentator', believed to be echoing the views of CPI-M
general secretary Prakash Karat.
"It is for the Congress leadership to decide whether it wants to be
seen as kowtowing to the pressure of the (US President George W)
Bush administration or acting democratically and heeding the voice
of parliament and the people. And this decision has to be a quick
and clear one.
"The future of this government depends on the decision they will
take," the CPI-M said.
Karat has written to external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, who
heads the 15-member UPA-Left nuclear committee, asking him to
convene an urgent meeting of the panel to inform members about the
latest developments.
The article termed the statements of both Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in parliament
as unfortunate and said it amounted to harping on the government's
effort to go ahead with the nuclear deal.
"If the government thinks that after arriving at an agreed text with
the IAEA on a safeguards agreement they can proceed to take the next
steps for operationalising the agreement, they are mistaken," it
said.
The CPI-M reiterated that the Left would not give the government the
green signal to finalise the safeguard agreement with the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) or take the next step to
go to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) given the basic objection to
the Hyde Act and the 123 agreement.
The article also lampooned the claims in the media that in its
negotiations with the IAEA, New Delhi had managed to get an
agreement that would overcome "all the problems posed by the Hyde
Act and its 123 progeny".
"This is, to use an American term, pure baloney! Neither the Hyde
Act nor the 123 agreement grants lifetime fuel supply assurance to
safeguarded reactors," it said, adding that it was not within the
scope of jurisdiction of the IAEA to provide any assurance for
uninterrupted fuel supply or help India build a strategic reserve.
"Neither is it within the powers of the IAEA to spell out corrective
measures that can be taken by India in the event of the termination
of the fuel supply by a party contracted to do so," the article
pointed out.
It reiterated that it was the US which was the supplying party in
the 123 agreement and it would be bound by the provisions of the
Hyde Act that according to the communists would have implications on
India's independent foreign policy, strategic and security concerns.
According to sources, in his letter to Mukherjee Karat had drawn the
government's attention to media reports that India had managed to
nearly finalise a safeguard pact with the IAEA except for the
phraseology of the draft text on fuel guarantees.
Sources indicated that the communist leader wants the meeting to be
held on or before March 15.
Karat's CPI-M and its allies, who support Manmohan Singh's
government from outside, have been vehemently opposing the civil
nuclear agreement with Washington saying that it would damage
India's independent foreign policy and its indigenous nuclear
programme.
However, the Left parties have given a green signal to the
government to go ahead with India-specific negotiations with the
IAEA on the condition that they are consulted before further steps
are taken.
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