THE BJP-led government has proved to be the most pro-imperialist and pro-American government in the history of independent India.

According to the Vajpayee government, it is better for India to be a strategic ally of the USA, which actually means becoming a junior partner of the US.

In this pursuit:

Let us see the Vajpayee government's shameless record in all these four spheres.

Recently the Enron corporation which is one of the biggest US multinationals has announced that it will abandon the Dabhol power project in Maharashtra if the government does not accept its terms.

The Enron set up the Dabhol power plant after the agreement with the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) was provided a counter-guarantee by the Vajpayee government. In fact the only policy decision taken by the 13-day long Vajpayee government in 1996 was to provide this totally unjustified and unprecedented counter-guarantee.

Since then, the Enron company has looted Rs. 3600 crores from MSEB and the Maharashtra government in just one year by hiking up its power tariff to Rs. 7.80 per unit. It is the Shiv Sena-BJP government which signed the bigger agreement with Enron to allow it to set up a second plant, Phase II.

Just as Enron can dictate terms, so does the United States government dictate to the Vajpayee government its terms and conditions on the economic front. Whether it be privatisation of the public sector units, opening up of the financial sector or accepting unequal trade terms, the United States is pressurising and forcing the Vajpayee government to compromise on economic sovereignty and open the country to the predatory exploitation reminiscent of the colonial period.

After independence, India was one of the pioneers of the non-aligned movement. The non-aligned foreign policy meant an independent policy which can stand up to imperialist pressures. Such a policy has now been abandoned by the Vajpayee government.

The Vajpayee government was the first to welcome the US President Bush's announcement of a New Missile Defence plan which is meant to ensure American hegemony. Such shameless sycophancy of America goes against the interests not only of India but of world peace.

The Vajpayee government is wooing the United States by assuring it that it will be a reliable ally against China. The Vajpayee government is the first Indian government to join an American sponsored "Community of Democracies" as one of the co-sponsors. This is nothing but an ideological platform to propagate America's idea of "democracy" which is nothing but a cover for free markets to safeguard America's economic interests.

The Vajpayee government has established close ties with Israel (including in the military sphere) which goes against India's commitment to the cause of the Palestinian people.

Since the Vajpayee government came to power in 1998, it has:

• Repeatedly requested the US to intervene in the region
• After the May 1998 Pokhran blats, Vajpayee wrote a letter to Clinton saying there is a threat from China and offering to be an ally of US.
• During Kargil conflict, the Vajpayee government requested US to intervene and Clinton asked Pakistan prime minister to withdraw troops in return for his personal intervention on Kashmir.
• Since 1998, secret talks held for ten months between Jaswant Singh and US representatives to forge alliance and accept US hegemony in South Asia.
• Despite BJP-led government's surrender to US, America has not lifted sanctions on supply of high technology and military equipment to India.

• Even today, sanctions prohibiting 150 institutions and organisations from having relations with any US organisation or concern, stands.

The Narasimha Rao government initiated military collaboration with the United States. A pact was signed in 1995 for Indo-US military collaboration. The Vajpayee government is very keen for deeper military ties with the US. In 1998, after the Pokhran tests, America suspended the cooperation. By November 1999, the United States offered to resume their military training exchange programme (US International Military Exchange Training Programme). The Vajpayee government has now accepted this offer even though America has refused to lift the sanctions it imposed on supply of military equipment to the Indian armed forces.

Vajpayee and Jaswant Singh have agreed to resume military to military cooperation in all spheres involving the army, navy and air force. American military personnel will be coming for training programmes in Indian military institutions.

Under the IMET, Indian military offices will be going to US for training. This is the same programme under which Pakistani military personnel have been going to the United States for training. In fact Gen. Musharraf was trained in the United States. Very soon Generals of the Indian armed forces would be those who have been trained in the United States.

The United States wants to penetrate and influence the Indian armed forces. This is a serious threat to the integrity of our armed forces and national security.

The Vajpayee government is now shamelessly wanting to associate with the American military base in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. India has been consistently demanding that the military base be wound up. But the BJP government wants to cooperate with the United States using the facilities of the military base.

The Vajpayee government has allowed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the top American police agency to set up its office in the American Embassy premises in New Delhi in mid-1999. For this the FBI Director visited India in April 1999.

It is similar to the CBI in India but with more powers.

In the name of cooperation in combating the drug trafficking and terrorism, the FBI is allowed access to India's internal security agencies and forces.

The principal secretary to the Prime Minister and the National Security Advisor, Brajesh Mishra visited Washington in June this year. Among the official appointments he had was one with the Director of the CIA. This is the first time such a high Indian official has had a meeting with the CIA director.

It is the dreaded intelligence agency of the US government which also specialises in "covert operations" against perceived enemies of the US.

The CIA acts against any political leader or government which does not toe the US imperialist line. In the fifties, Prime Minister Mossadegh of Iran was toppled because his government insisted on nationalisation of US oil companies.

The CIA has been responsible for dozens of assassination attempts on the Cuban leader, Fidel Castro.

The CIA has plotted and helped the toppling of progressive governments in Latin America and Africa. The CIA is responsible for the coup against President Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973 and his assassination.

In the name of combating terrorism, the CIA will be allowed to operate in India and collaborate with India's security agencies.

The BJP-RSS combine which used to shout "Bharat Mata Ki Jai" is now chanting "Washington Ki Jai".

The sycophancy displayed by the BJP leadership during the visit of President Clinton in March 2000 was a shameful spectacle which offended patriotic Indians.

The Vajpayee government is pro-American and pro-imperialist because the BJP's ideology which traces its genealogy to the RSS has always been against the anti-imperialist sentiments. During the freedom struggle, the RSS was more concerned about fighting the Muslims than British imperialism. All through the period when India stood firmly in support of national liberation struggles the world over and opposed imperialism, the RSS and Jan Sangh stood in defence of the United States. In the sixties they openly supported US military aggression in Vietnam.

The Vajpayee government's policies goes against the entire traditions of anti-imperialism of the Indian people. All those who cherish the values of the anti-imperialist struggle for independence must realise the danger posed by this reactionary and pro-imperialist approach of the BJP-led government.