New Delhi
30 July 2005
The Prime Minister's suo motu statement in Parliament on his visit
to the United States may have put to rest some apprehensions of the Left parties about
the controversial India-US joint statement but, as the CPI(M) politburo reiterated on
Saturday, questions about the nuclear deal remain unanswered and the Left continued to
have certain reservations.
Insisting on a structured discussion in Parliament, CPI(M) politburo and Raya Sabha
member Sitaram Yechury told reporters the joint statement makes it incumbent on India
to act on certain commitments like separating its civil and strategic nuclear facilities,
allowing for IAEA inspection of civil nuclear installations and signing of Additional
Protocol.
India, Mr Yechury said, would be doing all of that and more merely on the basis of
certain statements made by the US. "There has been no assurance from the US about
keeping its end of the bargain," he said in response to questions about the Left's
reservations over the Indo-US joint statement and questioned whether doing so would be
in national interest.
An article on the Indo-US nuclear deal in the latest issue of the "People's Democracy,"
CPI(M)'s mouthpiece, was more categorical. "The nuclear deal is but part of an overall
pattern of entrapment of India within US imperialist designs. [The] US will strive to keep
India on a short leash and deliver minimum while extracting the maximum", it read.
Urging the government to strictly implement the reciprocity stressed in the nuclear deal
and carefully calibrate its own actions only in response to measures "actually" taken by
the US, the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the International Atomic Energy Agency, it said
the government "should not undertake unilateral measures" which may compromise
national interests.
In the article, New Delhi's "ambivalence" about the India-Pakistan-Iran gas came in for
as much criticism as did the BJP's "critique" of the nuclear deal. "We do not want
nuclear weapons unlike the BJP," Mr Yechury was to explain later. "We also have our
doubts about Indo-US joint efforts to combat terrorism ... what about state-sponsored
terrorism like in Iraq?"
The politburo also discussed political developments including the Bihar situation and
the crisis in the saffron camp. The party was of the view that secular forces should forge
unity in order to prevent division of secular votes. Talks, he said in response to a
question, could also be had with Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party.
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