People's Democracy

  ‘Bowing To US Pressure Shall Harm National Interests’

B Prasant

Karat addressing the public meeting in Kolkata

SUCCUMBING to US pressure on the Iran question recently has been a mistake on the part of the Congress-led UPA government, and the Left is of the firm opinion that come the IAEA board meeting in November, the union government must declare its independent and non-aligned foreign policy.

CPI (M) general secretary, Prakash Karat said this while addressing a rally organised by the Kolkata Left Front to protest against India’s surrender to the US over the issue concerning the setting up of a gas pipeline from Iran into India.

The next two months, said Prakash karat, the Left would campaign relentlessly all over the country to profile the issue at stake over the US impediment to the linking up of a gas pipeline between Iran and India. Pressure would be brought to bear on the union government not to vote with the US on the matter.

The Indian kow-towing of the anti-Iran line of the US, said the CPI(M) leader, had not merely tarnished India’s image before the community of nations, it had also strained the relation between India and Iran. There has been a great fall in India’s worldview from the position of leadership of the non-aligned movement to serving the interests of US global outlook. Kneeling down before an imperialist power that was out to destroy the sovereignty of other nations was surely not the way to ensure one’s own security, commented Prakash Karat.

The UPA government, reminded Prakash Karat, was perhaps looking forward to supply of nuclear fuel from the US. This would not meet the demand for energy in any manner and India would have been better off had it agreed to ignore US threats and gone ahead with the proposal of importing via an inter-country pipeline natural gas to the of five million tons per year. The pipeline, which would pas through Pakistan, would have benefited all three countries involved in the project.

Speaking on the imperialist aims of the United States, the CPI (M) general secretary noted that more than three years back the US imperialists had targetted Iraq, Iran, and Democratic Korea as the ‘axis of evil.’ The principal aim was the taking over of the natural oil and gas resources concerned. Iraq, after occupation, has been wrecked by anarchy and mayhem with more than two-and-half-lakh Iraqi’s perishing. The next target is surely Iran.

Iran, said Prakash Karat, had every right to make peaceful use of nuclear energy. India, a long-time friend of Iran, has now turned round and has chosen to agree with the US proposal that the issue of Iran’s nuclear energy programme should be taken up, for scrutiny and judgement, at the level of the UN security council. Throughout, the early stand of India was that the issue should be resolved at the level of the IAEA itself. The deviation shows the fatuous bias the foreign policy of India has taken of late.

Drawing the attention of the UPA government to recent history, Prakash Karat said that the BJP-led NDA government had tried to become the junior partner of the US. The period preceding the Lok Sabha election last year had witnessed the Left campaigning relentlessly on this issue before the people. The election results saw a crushing humbling of the BJP’s policy of betraying India’s anti-imperialist and non-aligned traditions of foreign policy. The UPA government, warned Prakash Karat, should think twice before walking along the same path. (INN)