New Delhi
29 June 2007
Stung by criticism from the CPI(M), the UPA Government on Friday
moved in swiftly to reiterate India's commitment to the ideals of Non-Aligned Movement
(NAM).
Responding to the United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's observation that
non-alignment has lost its meaning, the spokesman of the Ministry of External Affairs
said that there can be no question of India's firm and abiding commitment to non-
alignment.
In a statement the spokesman said, "The Non-Aligned Movement played a significant
role in ending apartheid and colonialism. Today, its relevance continues in promoting
South -- South cooperation and the democratisation of the international system. India
remains committed to its ideals."
Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee told reporters at Jalpaiguri in West Bengal
that NAM had not lost its relevance. "We don't believe that the (NAM) movement has lost
its relevance. It has acquired contemporary relevance in fostering cooperation among
developing nations, particularly known as South-South cooperation," he said. "India is a
founding member of NAM and believes that the movement has contributed substantially
to the struggle against colonialism and apartheid policies in the post-Second World War
period."
Earlier, the CPI(M) said, "That the US has been hostile to the NAM is well known. But US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, using the platform of the US-India Business
Council to decry the NAM and brand it irrelevant, has a specific motive."
The CPI(M) Politburo said in a statement, "The United States is signaling to India not to
play an active role in NAM, which has got Cuba as its current chairman. The message is
being conveyed alongwith the assurance that the nuclear cooperation agreement can be
finalised provided India understands the parameters of the "strategic alliance" with the
United States," it said. "The NAM is a movement that still stands for the defence of
national sovereignty of nations and for a more equitable world order, in contrast to the
United States' strive for domination."
"The least that the UPA government can do is to come out with a clear and categorical
statement that India does not need to be lectured to on its foreign policy, and by
reiterating its basic commitment to the NAM. The UPA government should also realise
that the country is closely watching the course of the nuclear cooperation talks and will
not countenance any compromise under US pressure," the CPI(M) said.
A former minister of external affairs in the UPA Government, Mr Natwar Singh said that
Ms Rice could not be more wrong when she made that observation about NAM not being
relevant today. He said, "It is legitimate to ask how NATO is relevant today when the
Soviet Union has disappeared and the Warsaw Pact has been wound up and yet NATO
has extended to the borders of Russia. The NATO is looking for an enemy and cannot
find one. In the eyes of vast majority of people in Asia, Africa and Latin America, NATO is
irrelevant and yet NATO troops are present in Afghanistan. What has the North Atlantic to
do with Afghanistan?"
According to Mr Singh, non-alignment is as relevant as it has ever been. He said that the
agenda has changed and the NAM also has changed to meet the requirements of a world
of the 21st century. "The major issues today are not colonialism and apartheid. Today
the issues before the world are terrorism, drugs, financial instability, HIV/AIDS, migration
of people [and] growth of sub-nationalisms," he added.
Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday said at the the US -- India Business Council's 32nd
Anniversary "Global India" Summit in Washington that non-alignment has "lost its
meaning" and suggested that India "move past old ways of thinking and old ways of
acting" to create a partnership for the future of relations between the two countries.
The CPI, in turn, said that India is a sovereign country and knows what is in her best
interest. "The US is holding out the sop of nuclear deal and special favours in exchange
for denigrating the NAM and forging a strategic alliance with the US," it said in statement.
It went on to observe that India has been the co-founder of NAM and continues to be one
of its leaders. "The NAM is as relevant today as in the past. It has to express solidarity
with and rally support for small countries that are victims of attacks and aggression by
imperialist powers such as the US. It has to play a leading role in helping the
development of these countries, protect them from economic domination, defend their
national sovereignty and work for a new international economic order," it said.
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