People's Democracy

“123” to “456”

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) issued the following statement on September 19, 2007.

THE US Ambassador to India, David Mulford, has declared that there should be no delay in the finalisation of the Indo-US nuclear cooperation agreement. He has set out the time frame for India to take the next steps with the IAEA for the safeguards agreement and for going to the Nuclear Suppliers Group, in order to ensure that the 123 agreement is voted upon by the US Congress in the time frame set out by the Bush administration.

The UPA government should tell the country whether it plans to adhere to this time frame or examine the serious objections raised to the agreement and keep in mind the fact that the majority in parliament is against proceeding with the agreement.

More importantly, the US Ambassador has talked of moving from “123” to “456”. He has set out the contours of the “comprehensive relationship” being forged with the United States. According to him this encompasses, defence, economic and strategic collaboration.

The Ambassador has only confirmed that US-India relations is broader, “for which Civil Nuclear is important, but only one part of the larger whole”. This is precisely what the Left parties have been saying that the nuclear cooperation agreement must not be seen in isolation from the wider strategic alliance being forged with the United States.