People's Democracy

Countrywide Action Against Indo-US Nuclear Deal

Marching on the parliament street in New Delhi on September 18

THE CPI(M) Delhi state committee organised a procession and protest demonstration on September 18 to demand the stoppage of operationalisation of the Indo-US nuclear deal. Over 3000 people participated in this action. The CPI(M) general secretary, Prakash Karat along with central committee members Subhashini Ali, Jogendra Sharma and Pushpinder Grewal, secretary, Delhi state CPI(M) addressed the demonstration.

Prakash Karat received a rousing ovation from the crowd when he said that the nuclear deal should not be seen in isolation but as part of a larger strategic alliance that the UPA government wants to forge with the USA. As a consequence of this alliance, giant MNCs like Wal-Mart would be coming into the Indian market, leading to large-scale unemployment among small retailers. The government must understand that it does not enjoy a majority in the parliament on the nuclear deal. It is a basic principle of democracy that any measure that does not enjoy a majority in the parliament cannot be implemented. Still, the government wants to go ahead. It is not just political parties but even nuclear scientists and intellectuals who are opposing the nuclear deal, he said. “We have demanded that the government should not proceed to the next step of operationalising the deal, unless it satisfies the people regarding the serious objections that have been raised against the deal”, Karat said. The government going ahead as per the time frame committed to the US president will not be good for political stability. The government should wait for at least six months and discuss the deal in the parliament before proceeding further. Karat called upon the gathering to go to masses and enlighten the people on the dangers of the nuclear deal.

In his speech, Jogendra Sharma attacked the Congress leadership for spreading lies against the Left on the Indo-US nuclear deal, accusing it of not understanding coalition politics. The Left is supporting the government from outside on the basis of a CMP and has opposed every anti-people policy pursued by the government. The Indo-US nuclear deal seriously compromises our sovereignty and is completely unacceptable to the Left. The government today must choose between stalling the deal and saving the government, or having both the deal and government thrown out, he said.

Subhashini Ali pointed out that the media is manufacturing an opinion that the nuclear deal is not an issue of the common man. She said that it was the common people who laid down their lives to free the country. They will not tolerate any erosion in our independence and sovereignty in the 60th year of independence, 150th year of the 1857 revolt and 100th birth anniversary of the legendary Bhagat Singh. The government has scuttled the Indo-Iran gas pipeline in order to please the US. She said Iran has declared that it will go ahead with this project with Pakistan since Indian government has not responded to the proposal.

CPI(M) Delhi state secretary Pushpinder Grewal attacked the attempts of the government and its loyal scribes to present USA as a peace loving and democratic power. He reminded the gathering of the various crimes of US imperialism in Korea, Vietnam, Congo, Chile, Iraq etc., and asserted that unlike the ruling classes the people would never accept a subordinate relationship with such an aggressive and oppressive power as US imperialism.

The protestors carried placards and banners denouncing US imperialism. (INN)

IN SHIMLA

AS the Left parties are closely watching the emerging strategic tie-up between India and the US, most vividly revealed in the recently held joint naval exercises, Sitaram Yechury commented that the Indo-US 123 nuclear deal was not only about ‘nuclear energy commerce’ to favour the US multinationals, but is a vital component of the strategic partnership that India is entering with the US. In doing so, the government of India is not only abandoning India’s self-reliant nuclear energy programe, it is all set to abandon the country’s independent foreign policy and to serve as ‘junior partner’ of the US.

Sitaram Yechury was delivering a lecture on the ‘123 Nuclear Deal and Our Concerns’ organised by the Students’ Central Association (SCA), Himachal Pradesh university on September 15, 2007, in Shimla.

Addressing a huge gathering of students, teachers and employees of the university, Yechury said that since the Manmohan Singh-Bush agreement of July 18, 2005, the CPI(M) had done a clause by clause analysis of the deal and it follows that through this deal not only has the US consistently retreated from its commitments made earlier; it has also brought India into a relationship that will serve American strategic interests. The Hyde Act was a clear departure from what the prime minister had earlier stated before the parliament and the provision of this Act cannot be accepted by India as it negates the most significant, if not all, assurances made by the prime minister to the Indian parliament, he said. “Today the government is not even ready to see that the same 123 deal was signed with China and Japan by the US, where these are, respectively, governed by the international laws and through the arbitrator. Why our prime minister and his government could not negotiate same deals? The deal being against India’s interests, thus, further negotiations on this score must not proceed. So the Left parties have been asking to press the ‘pause button’, and discuss our concerns, before going to IAEA and to the NSG to proceed with the deal,” said Yechury.

The CPI (M) had been maintaining that this deal would neither allow India to develop self-reliance in nuclear energy nor will it benefit India to achieve the development of nuclear technology based on thorium, of which India has the richest reserves in the world. Sitaram made it clear to the audience that the there were clear embargoes on the dual–use technologies like heavy water and reprocessing facilities, and of course despite the party’s clear position on the armament, the deal will not allow India to go ahead with a nuclear test, thus capping the Indian nuclear programs.

Yechury made it clear that not withstanding the corporate media’s consistent propaganda on the deal and popular support to it, on the contrary it is evident that it is not acceptable to large sections of the Indian people (certainly not excluding its scientific community), and the overwhelming majority of the Indian parliament is also against it. The deal was only favourable to the interests of the American companies eager to sell the nuclear reactor to India, as US since 1996 has not itself commissioned any nuclear energy project. He also commented that BJP which was itself a divided house on the deal, was hypocritical in disrupting the parliament on the pretext of demanding a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) on this issue. Consequently, the people were not allowed to know the stand of their own representatives on this issue of crucial national importance. He also criticised the BJP for the negotiations it was having with the US during the NDA regime, and the people of India were kept in the dark on the details of the multi rounds of talks held between Talbott and Jaswant Singh. On the other hand, it goes to credit of the Left Parties which could successfully take this issue into the public and today the issue could be debated by the large sections of Indian people.

Yechury made it clear that the nuclear energy is not the only option that India has. It is neither safe nor a cheap option. Hydroelectric, thermal and that based on the gas are not only environmentally safer, but these are also less expensive options. The deal will involve India in a commerce of 3,30,000 crore rupees and will increase the quantum of energy just by 20,000mw in next ten to twelve years. The same energy output could be achieved at a much lesser expense and the extra revenue can be used to open up large number of Navodya vidyalayas or hospitals for 20,00,000 people.

Yechury said that prime minister Manmohan Singh has shown undue haste to go fast on the issue as he wishes that the deal is signed before Bush, his most loving American president, steps down. He often forgets that the popularity level of Bush is at its lowest at present in his country, not to talk of the third world countries. It is this ‘undue haste’ shown by him that has created the present political crisis. The government has to respond to the concerns raised by the Left Parties before the deal is operationalised. After almost an hour of inspired lecture, in a lively interactive session, Yechury responded to the questions put on various aspects of the deal by the students and the faculty present in the audience. (Swatantar Chauhan)

IN TRIPURA

TRIPURA Left Front committee organised rallies and protest demonstrations throughout the state on September 6, 2007 against the Indo-US nuclear deal. Echoing the deep feelings of the nation, people of Tripura took to the streets in a massive protest rally against UPA government’s frantic drive to finalise a subjugated deal with US deviating from the CMP. The people everywhere stridently demanded immediate scrapping of the deal as well as the strategic defence cooperation with US. The present crucial hour demands that all the patriotic people of the country rise to protest against the nuclear deal which is a sell out of our country’s economic independence, independent foreign policy, nuclear programme and ultimately undermines our hard-own sovereignty.

A huge rally was held in Agartala on September 9, 2007. Gautam Das, state secretariat member of CPI(M), Prasanta Kapali, CPI state secretary and Sudarshan Bhattacharjee, RSP state secretary addressed the rally which was presided over by veteran freedom fighter and CPI(M) state committee member Chitta Chanda.

Expressing great concern about the nation’s strategic security, Gautam Das said the number one enemy of the world humanism, US is leading a naval exercise with its imperialist allies Japan, Australia and Singapore in our territories. Though Congress is arguing that the deal is on the basis of mutual interest, they are still hiding the implications of the Hyde Act which is the basis of the nuclear deal. The notorious naval ships used in Vietnam and Iraq aggressions were used in the naval exercises. All these are part of the US imperialism’s drive to expand its control over Asian continent, Gautam Das asserted.

Referring to the so-called power security as argued by the prime minister, Gautam Das said, there are ample avenues to increase our power generation using domestic resources, other than nuclear plant. We would become paupers paying the cost of imported reactor and other materials including plant and uranium if the deal is operationalised, Gautam Das warned. (Haripada Das)

IN MADHYA PRADESH

Madhya Pradesh state committee of CPI(M) conducted intensive campaign against the Indo-US nuclear deal. The Party organised four jathas covering 5188 kilometers to garner mass support against the deal in 40 districts across the state. Pamphlets and booklets were extensively used in the campaign to educate the people on the dangerous implications of the deal.

The first jatha started on September 8, 2007 from Rewa led by Sandhya Shaily, state secretariat member and Girijesh Sengar, state committee member of the Party. The jatha visited Rewa, Satna, Sidhi, Shahadol, Anuppur, Umaria, Katni, Jabalpur, Damoh, Sagar, Vidisha, Raisen and toured 1650 kilometers to reach Bhopal. This jatha addressed 26 organised public meetings apart from several street corner meetings. Apart from jatha leaders Ramayan Panday, Ramlallu Gupta, Narayan Bhaskar, Mahesh Shrivastava, Amit Sahagora, Ashok Patel, Vidhya Khangar and Ramsharan Lambardar also addressed the meetings.

The second jatha started from Gwalior led by Badal Saroj, state secretariat member and Shailesh Bohare, convener of SFI. Jatha started from the statue of Laxmi Bai with senior Party leader B P Soniya flagging off the jatha. It campaigned in Gwalior, Bhind, Morena, Sheopur, Shivpuri, Ashok Nagar, Guna, Rajgarh, Narsinghgarh and reached Bhopal after addressing 27 organised public meetings and toured 1166 kilometers. Ashok Tiwari, Ramvilash Goswami, Ganesh Maraia and Dr Vishnu Sharma also spoke in several public meetings during this jatha.

Another jatha started on September September 8, 2007 from Balaghat and was led by Ramnarayan Kuraria and Neena Sharma. This jatha addressed 36 public meetings in Balaghat, Seoni, Jabalpur, Narsinghpur, Piparia, Chindwada, Betul, Etasi, Hosangabad, Budhani and Mandideep and toured 1287 km to reach Bhopal.

The last jatha started from Neemuch and addressed 35 meetings in Neemuch, Mandsore, Ratlam, Dhar, Ujjain, Indore, Dewas and Sehore districts and toured a distance of 1085 kilometers to reach Bhopal. Jasvinder Singh and S P Sharma addressed the meetings in this jatha.

Late Comrade Bahadur Singh Dhakkad, the then state secretary of CPI(M) thanked the people for their enthusiastic support to these jathas. The CPI(M) leaders said that the people of Madhya Pradesh are against the Indo-US nuclear deal that will provide costly nuclear power at the cost of putting the sovereignty of the country at stake.

A public meeting on the conclusion of the jathas was held at Neelam park in Bhopal. Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) M K Pandhe participated in the meeting. Pandhe lambasted the BJP on this issue saying that the talks on the deal commenced during the tenure of the NDA government. Now the BJP is confused and adopts conflicting stand on the deal. It is also afraid of any debate in the parliament.

Pandhe said that the nuclear deal will not only impact the economy of the country adversely but is also a threat to the internal security, non alignment foreign policy, sovereignty and independence of the country. Therefore CPI(M) strongly opposes the deal, he said.

Late Comrade B S Dhakkad, state secretariat member Badal Saroj, Sandhya Shaily, Jasvinder Singh and Ramnarayan Kuraria also addressed the meeting which was presided over by the state secretariat member Pramod Pradhan. Other leaders who participated in the jatha included Girijesh Sengar, S P Sharma, Neena Sharma, Shailesh Bohare and Vidhya Shankar Muphlish.

Later addressing a press conference Pandhe said the government should concentrate on setting up of major hydel power and thermal power projects. Hydel power project would not only generate power, but will also lead to water conservation and providing irrigation facilities. He said the UPA government should fulfill its promises in the common minimum programme such as comprehensive law for unorganised sector labour, providing 33 percent reservation for women and take effective steps to curb rising prices.