By IANS
New Delhi : In unusually strong words, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has dared the Left to withdraw support to his government over the India-US nuclear deal, insisting that the deal cannot be renegotiated.
“I told them that it is not possible to renegotiate the deal. It is a honourable deal, the cabinet has approved it, we cannot go back on it. I told them to do whatever they want to do, if they want to withdraw support, so be it…” Manmohan Singh told the Kolkata-based Telegraph newspaper.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left parties, which have rejected the 123 agreement between New Delhi and Washington, have warned of “serious consequences” if the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government went ahead with the deal.
But Manmohan Singh reminded his communist allies, which extend crucial support to his multi-party government, that they needed to work together and that the UPA-Left alliance could not be a one-sided affair.
“I don’t get angry, I don’t want to use harsh words. They are our colleagues and we have to work with them. But they also have to learn to work with us,” he said.
The Congress-led UPA and the Left have had a love-hate relationship since this government was formed in May 2004, with the leftists protesting its economic and foreign policies. However, both Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi have never been harsh vis-a-vis the Left.
According to the prime minister, the Left did not understand the 123 agreement and India’s inherent strengths and its improved status in the world clearly.
“I don’t know (why the Left is opposing the deal)… they (Left) seem to have a problem with the United States.
“I want India’s relations to improve with all powers and we have been doing that – with the US, with Russia, with the European Union, with France and particularly with China. We have had a breakthrough with China, a historic agreement where we have defined the principles that will outline the border agreement,” he told the Telegraph.
Referring to the Left’s argument that the nuclear agreement would draw India into a strategic alliance with US as an American satellite, Manmohan Singh said: “How can we ever become anyone’s satellite? Yes, we live in an increasingly interdependent world but the challenge before us is to forge new linkages, widen our strategic options and, at the same time, guard against the negative side of the process of globalisation.”
He also indicated that the Left should learn from China and other communist countries.
“Look at Vietnam, look at China (the way they are engaging with America) – out of fear of dealing with the US, we cannot become a frog in the well.”
The Left has repeatedly said that the India-US nuclear deal has to be seen in the context of overall growing strategic relations between New Delhi and Washington.