By IANS
New Delhi : The Indian government should clarify “all the doubts” regarding the Indo-US civil nuclear agreement and evaluate the Hyde Act, communist leader Prakash Karat has said.
In a signed editorial in “People’s Democracy”, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Karat also said that the agreement “will bind India to the US in a manner that will seriously impair an independent foreign policy and our strategic autonomy”.
In a trenchant criticism of the government’s foreign policy, particularly vis-à-vis the US, Karat says it is clear that the 123 agreement with the US does not enjoy majority support in the Indian parliament.
“The best course would be for the government not to proceed further with the operationalising of the agreement,” he said.
“Till all the doubts are clarified and the implications of the Hyde Act evaluated, the government should not take the next steps with regard to negotiating the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) safeguards, which are to be in perpetuity, and proceed to get the guidelines from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).”
Karat added: “A wise and expedient step for the government would be to acknowledge that there is widespread opposition to the agreement. The question is not whether it should be put to vote in parliament or not.”
The article comes as the party’s politburo discussed its strategy to oppose the nuclear deal and to face the political fallouts, particularly if the Left ends its legislative backing to the Congress-led government.
Karat pointed out that the deal was “only one part of the wide-ranging alliance that the UPA government has forged with the US.
“This agreement covers political, economic, military and nuclear cooperation. This alliance entails not just nuclear cooperation but talks of the two countries promoting global democracy, revamping the Indian economy to facilitate large scale investment by the US and a strategic military collaboration.”
Karat said joint military exercises with the US, the Defence Framework Agreement signed with the US in July 2005 and India’s decision to vote along with the US against Iran’s nuclear programme in the IAEA meeting were part of a larger Indo-US strategic alliance that the Left would not support.
“The UPA government has been deepening collaboration with Israel in the military and security spheres which violates our long-held policy of support to the Palestinian cause and friendship with the Arab countries,” Karat said.
“Certain Indian companies have been warned not to export to Iran due to American pressure.
“The Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline will not proceed if this nuclear agreement is put in place despite protestations to the contrary by the government,” he said.
Karat said many of the provisions under the Hyde Act that impinge on nuclear cooperation with India were not mentioned in the bilateral text.
“The Hyde Act expects India to have a foreign policy ‘congruent’ to the US,” he said.