New Delhi
28 August 2007
CPI General Secretary AB Bardhan on Tuesday reminded the
Congress-led UPA Government that if it decides to set up a "mechanism" to address the
Left parties's concerns over the proposed India-United States civil nuclear cooperation
agreement, then it "follows as a corollary" that it will not take any step in the interim to
operationalise the nuclear deal. He expected the government to clarify whether the
Indian representative will engage in substantive negotiations on a safeguards
agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna next month.
Mr Bardhan said: "We will wait for this Government first of all to decide what sort of
mechanism, after discussing all this with us, they would like to be set up. They've had
discussion with all the four Left parties. Now the ball is in their court for them to decide,
number one, and what are the terms of reference of that committee, which they would like
this committee to have. Thirdly and most importantly, yesterday also we made it clear,
that if you are going to have a committee to discuss all these questions, it follows as a
corollary that in the meanwhile you are not going ahead, that is to say you are not taking
the next step."
Mr Bardhan posed six questions to the Congress party. He prefaced them by saying:
"[These] questions have to be clarified in the course of the discussion in the
mechanism."
One, what is the impact of the Hyde Act on the 123 Agreement?
He said: "Many statements have been made that the Hyde Act is their (America's)
business and we have nothing to do with it, therefore we want to be clear."
Two, does the text of the 123 Agreement have any impact on India's foreign policy?
"Has there any demand been made that our foreign policy should be in tune with the
foreign policy of the US, we would like to have this clarified."
Three, whether the agreement, as it stands, has any impact on India's own nuclear
programme, including her strategic programme?
"We would like to know that, we want that to be examined."
Four, what will a strategic alliance with the US entail?
"It is our feeling that the US is drawing us into a strategic alliance and a strategic
alliance in the present world order will mean many things [like] our attitude in West Asia,
attitude towards Non-Aligned Movement, attitude towards many other Third World
countries, attitude in economics and trade."
Five, how will the deal contribute to India's energy security?
"What is the cost-effectiveness of this nuclear energy that we will be getting and whether
it will be economically sustainable?"
Six, what is the nature of safeguards that we are going to negotiate and what exactly is
the meaning of that provision that the US President will be annually certifying [to the US
Congress] that India is keeping to the bounds of the text of the agreement?
Mr Bardhan said that things might not have come to such a pass if the UPA had cared to
consult the Left before freezing the text of the 123 Agreement. "The whole agreement
was thrust on us as an accomplished fact without even a word of consultation at any
time," he said. "We would have welcomed if we had been consulted before... we are a
supporting party and with our help, it has got a majority. Then [these questions] would
not have arisen." Mr Bardhan added that he didn't know what the government intends to
do but he would like these questions to be discussed and examined.
Mr Bardhan said that the CPI National Executive, which began its two-day meeting in
New Delhi on Tuesday, has emphasised that it was never the intention of the CPI to
destabilise the UPA Government. "We have made it clear that we have no intention
either to destabilise the government and the country or to force an immediate election in
this very period. This has not been the intention."
An article written by Mr Bardhan in a special publication of the CPI, titled "CPI and the
Left on Indo-US Nuclear Deal", further amplified the CPI's, and the Left's, position on the
nuclear deal. Mr Bardhan wrote: "You cannot go ahead with the Deal and at the same
time engage the others in talks in a committee. It is not clear whether the Indian
representative who will go to Vienna in September middle, will be participating only as a
member of the Board of Governors of the IAEA in its routine meeting, or will engage in
substantive negotiations on Safeguards Agreement. It is for the Government to clarify
this question."
He went on to state: "We want the Government to pause, to reflect 10 times over, and
respond to the genuine doubts and apprehensions. We tell them: It took you two years to
reach the Agreement. Why should there be a hurry now to complete the next two steps,
viz negotiating with the IAEA, and then with the Nuclear Suppliers Grpup (NSG) within the
coming two or three months? Is your speed being determined by the time left for Bush
before he becomes a 'lame duck' president? May be, he is the 'friendliest president',
and the agreement is a 'historic' one, but nothing will derogate from its importance, if
you pause, reflect and respond to the doubts and criticism of a majority in Parliament."
Mr Bardhan dismissed the proposition that any hesitation or rethink on the nuclear deal
will mean loss of face for the UPA Government. "The face of a government depends
primarily on the support of the people in the country and not on what the people abroad
think of it. The latter follows from the former. The poser is: Are you with the people? Or,
are you with Bush and the men in his Administration?"
Earlier in the day the Congress party concluded talks with the other Left constituents --
All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) -- on the political
mechanism for evaluating the implications of the Hyde Act. The Congress Troika of
Minister of External Affairs Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of Defence AK Antony and
Congress President Sonia Gandhi's Political Secretary Ahmed Patel met separately with
Mr Abani Roy of RSP and Mr Debabrata Biswas and Mr G Devarajan of AIFB in the
afternoon. The Troika has already held discussions with the CPI(M) and the CPI.
The Left parties reiterated that not taking the next step of negotiating an India-specific
safeguards agreement with the IAEA will naturally be implied in the formal announcement
of the mechanism. There was no word from the Congress party though. It continued to
hedge on whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Government will continue
negotiating with the IAEA in the interim.
For their part, the AIFB and RSP leaders said that they had reiterated their "old position"
in their separate meetings with Mr Mukherjee. "The issue should be settled politically,"
Mr Debabrata Biswas of AIFB said after the meeting. The AIFB told the Congress party
that the next step for operationalising the nuclear deal should be put on hold and a
committee should be constituted to clear the clouds in the minds of the majority of the
political parties in Parliament. Mr Biswas said that no dates have yet been fixed for a
meeting between the ruling UPA coalition and Left leaders on the matter. The Congress
leaders are first expected to discuss the issues raised by the Left within their party and
then with the UPA, before a Left-UPA meeting could be held. He, however, indicated that
the all-important meeting would take place within "two or three days".
A strident RSP went a step further. It wondered what was the point of having a
mechanism when there is every likelihood that differences may persist even after it is
formed. RSP leader Abani Roy said the RSP Central Committee can be expected to meet
in New Delhi soon to firm up its stand on the nuclear deal and a host of other issues as
well. "Besides the nuclear issue, we are opposed to the government on its performance
in the domestic front too," he said. "We have already made it clear that we are not
satisfied with government's performance on the economic front, particularly on issues
like price rise, employment generation, education and healthcare. On top of it, now we
have the nuclear deal." He sought to suggest that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's
statement has triggered the differences between the UPA and the Left.
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