By IANS
Hyderabad : While deciding to continue its opposition to the India-US nuclear deal, the Communist Party of India (CPI) Friday tried to play down the differences among the Left parties over the agreement with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan told newsmen that the India-specific agreement with IAEA was not sufficient to operationalise the deal.
“Going to IAEA and signing India-specific safeguard agreement is only one of the steps required to operationalise the agreement. This step alone will not operationalise unless three other steps are taken,” he said when asked to comment on the reported differences among Left parties over the IAEA agreement.
Bardhan pointed out that after the approval from the IAEA board of governors, the agreement would have to go to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and then to the US Congress.
“We were demanding that the agreement with the IAEA should come to us. It was brought to us March 17. We will be meeting in April to discuss it. It will take four to five months to read and understand it,” he said.
“We are not against atomic energy. The deal is not so much for getting nuclear energy and imposes serious conditions on sovereignty and independent foreign policy.”
Replying to a question, Bardhan said the US alone was interested in signing the nuclear agreement “because it serves US interests.”
“India can wait but US can’t. From Condoleezza Rice to Richard Boucher, all US officials are stating that the time is the essence, and that time is running out”.
“More than the business interests, it serves their strategic and political interests. Their efforts are to make India as their ally,” he said and alleged that step-by-step the Congress was going in that direction.
On Tibet, Bardhan said it was part of China. “Tibet is an internal affair of China. If somebody wants a dialogue, it should be held but nobody can interfere into China’s internal affairs.”
“The Dalai Lama is a political refugee in India but he is using the Indian territory to meet leaders of the US to denounce China,” he said.
“We will resist attempts to use the Indian territory to interfere in China’s internal affairs and to dictate what kind of autonomy should be given to a part of China,” he said.