Govt Warned On Foreign Policy Issue

Premnath Rai

Prakash Karat addressing the rally in Lucknow. Mulayam Singh Yadav and others are seated on the dais

The call for the government to adopt an independent foreign policy without succumbing to US dictates emanated from the nook and corner of the country in the form of seminars, rallies organised by the Left and secular political parties. These actions were part of a campaign mounted by these parties to force the government to rectify its stand on the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme being referred to UN Security Council. As is known, the issue comes up before IAEA in its meeting on November 24 at Vienna.

A massive rally was held in Lucknow, a mass convention in Kolkata, a seminar in Chennai, with Hyderabad, Mumbai and other important places in the country set to witness such programmes in the coming days.

THAT the government of India must clarify, before November 24, its stand on the Iran issue was the demand put forward by CPI(M) general secretary, Prakash Karat, on November 13. He made the demand while addressing a convention on “Save Our Independent Foreign Policy, Save The Country.”

The convention was organised by the Uttar Pradesh state units of Samajwadi Party, CPI(M), CPI, Forward Bloc, RSP and Janata Dal (Secular). SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav presided while Prof. Ram Gopal Yadav, leader of the SP group in Rajya Sabha, conducted the proceedings.

Held in the open and sprawling Lakshman Park on the bank of Gomti river, the conference venue was decorated with flags, festoons and banners. The participants paid homage to former president Dr K R Narayanan and veteran socialist leader Prof. Madhu Dandwate, before the convention proceedings started.

Pointing out that Indo-Iranian ties go back to five millennia and that both the countries have been centres of ancient civilisations, Prakash Karat said the convention was organised in India’s own interest. While India is facing an acute oil and energy crisis, Iran has abundant oil and gas reserves that we may benefit from. The US is, however, dead opposed to the proposed Iran-India gas pipeline through Pakistan. He said while the US is accusing Iran of violating international law, the fact is that Iran and all other countries have a right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. In fact, the US wants to have Iran and Arab nations under its tutelage, in order to exploit their resources. This we saw in case of Iraq which was subjected to cruel sanctions for 12 long years and then attacked and occupied by the US. On Iran, while on Teheran visit, Natwar Singh had said that the Iran issue would be sorted out in the IAEA framework, through consensus. But when there was a voting on it in the International Atomic Energy Agency, India was found on the US side. India changed its position simply because it wants to have a “strategic” understanding with the US. This is not in our national interest, Karat said. The UPA government does not realise that the US can ditch India any moment. The 10-year military pact with the US poses a big threat to our sovereignty. This is against the UPA’s Common Minimum Programme that promised that the government would continue to follow an independent foreign policy. The CPI(M) leader demanded that the UPA government must clarify its stand before the Iran issue again comes up in the IAEA on November 24. He warned that the issue would be taken up during the coming session of parliament and outside.

UP chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav said Iran and India have exchanged much during the last 5,000 years in the field of culture, trade, agriculture, etc. Iran always stood by India on the Kashmir issue. He said the earlier Vajpayee regime was itching to send our forces to Iraq on behalf of the US, but it was our people’s protest that deterred it from doing so. India provided leadership to the non-aligned movement even when we were not that strong militarily. After the demise of the Soviet Union, the world has indeed become unipolar. However, while India should stand by the developing countries at such a juncture, we are shamelessly trying to become the US’s protege. Yadav wondered why India sided with the US while Russia, China and Brazil did not support the EU-3 resolution in IAEA. Pointing out that the BJP and the Congress have the same stand on the issue, Yadav said agitation would be intensified and there would be a Bharat Bandh if the government did not mend its way. The Lucknow convention was not the last move in this direction, he warned.

CPI national secretary Atul Kumar Anjan said the US raised the fear of a Soviet threat and occupied Afghanistan. Then it captured Iraq and is now trying to browbeat Iran into submission. It is also targetting North Korea and Syria. But the real face of American civilisation was evident during the recent hurricanes when the black people were discriminated against and their houses looted. The US is also backing Israel in order to kill by force the Palestinian struggle for a homeland. But the sad thing is that India, which always supported the Palestinian struggle, is talking of producing stealth bombers on behalf of Israel. This would only undermine our own independence, Anjan warned.

SP general secretary Amar Singh warned that the Left, SP and other parties have as many as 110 members in Lok Sabha, and the government may ignore this fact only at its own peril.

CPI(M) state secretary S P Kashyap said the convention was not organised to serve these parties’ interests but to protect our wider national interests.

Forward Bloc leader Abani Roy, its state secretary Amar Singh Kushwaha, CPI state secretary Vishwanath Shastri, and SP leader Azam Khan were among those who addressed the convention.

For the whole duration of the convention, 101 dholaks in a row welcomed the participants who came from various districts of UP. There was considerable response to the event despite the fact that it was a Sunday.