By IANS
New Delhi : India’s Communist parties Thursday differed on withdrawing support to the government over the India-US civil nuclear deal, but a right-left pincer seemed to be emerging with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanding that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh renegotiate the pact or quit.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) seemed to be softening its stance on withdrawing support even as the Communist Party of India (CPI) hardened its position.
“The question is not of supporting the government or not supporting it. The issue is of operationalising the nuclear deal,” CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury told interviewer Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN’s Devil’s Advocate programme.
But CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan declared, “The withdrawal of support seems to be inevitable,” adding: “The honeymoon period is over.”
According to Bardhan, Left support to the government was on the basis of the common minimum programme (CMP), “but the government has moved away from it”.
Meanwhile, the BJP described the Hyde Act governing the 123 agreement operationalising the nuclear deal as a document of “humiliation” and warned that it was aimed at forcing New Delhi to cap, roll back and eventually eliminate its nuclear weapons programme.
There was no point in building “castles in the air” as the majority in both houses of parliament were opposing the deal, BJP vice president and former foreign minister Yashwant Sinha added.
Yechury added: “We’re telling the prime minister: A, B, C, D, these are our concerns. Don’t operationalise the deal.
“Our interests lie in the interests of India and the interests of India lie in certain elements that are not part of the deal,” he maintained.
The CPI-M leads the Left parties that have been vociferously opposing the nuclear deal and the supplementary 123 agreement, saying it prevents future nuclear weapons testing by India and impinges on the country’s independent foreign policy.
It raised the ante Thursday following remarks the previous day by US State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack that the nuclear deal would be terminated if New Delhi tested a nuclear device.
On Thursday, Left MPs walked out of the Lok Sabha although External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee asserted India retained the sovereign right to test nuclear weapons. Both houses of parliament were adjourned for the day with opposition MPs alleging that Manmohan Singh had misled the house on the nuclear deal.
Yechury seemed to be taking a milder line on the nuclear deal Thursday, saying India should seek safeguards on the question of fuel supplies.
“The 123 agreement is silent on what happens if all countries stop supplying nuclear fuel. There is enough scope for negotiations (with the Nuclear Suppliers Group and the International Atomic Energy Agency) on ensuring fuel supplies in perpetuity,” he maintained.
Manmohan Singh had thrown the gauntlet at the Left last week, saying the “comrades” were welcome to withdraw support to his government if they were unhappy with the nuclear deal.
“Saving the government is not our responsibility,” CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat had retorted Sunday.