People's Democracy

Do Not Proceed With The Nuclear Deal

ADDRESSING a packed media conference at the Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan in Kolkata in the early afternoon of October 1, at the end of a three-day meeting of the central committee of the CPI(M), general secretary Prakash Karat asked the UPA government not to go ahead with the nuclear deal before discussion at the winter session of the parliament coming up.

Prakash Karat was also critical of the dismal performance of the UPA governance, with anti-people measures in increasing evidence. The CPI (M) leader also flayed the BJP’s political ploy over the Sethusamudram project. The central committee meeting had been preceded by a meeting of the CPI(M) Polit Bureau.

Describing how the policies and perspectives of the Congress-run UPA government were becoming more and even more heavily loaded against the imperatives of the Common Minimum Programme, Prakash Karat said that the proposed India-US nuclear deal was another instance of a clear departure from the CMP especially when the latter document speaks about India following an independent foreign policy.

‘I would leave no room for any wrong interpretation of the unanimous stand of the central committee on the issue of our opposition to the proposed nuclear accord,’ said the CPI(M) general secretary and then he proceeded to read out the relevant passage from the CC communiqué that he released at the media conference.

The passage in question clearly reflects the iteration of the stand of the central committee during August 22 - 23 meeting where it had asked the UPA government not to go ahead with the deal especially where negotiation of the text of a ‘safeguard’ agreement with the IAEA was involved as the ‘next step.’

As Prakash Karat pointed out, the UPA-Left coordination committee was already in dialogue, with exchanges of views several times both ways in forms of mutual exchanges on the implications of the accord and on matters related to national security. Prakash Karat stressed that the central committee has authorised the Polit Bureau to ‘take appropriate measures’ to ensure that the stand taken up unanimously on the proposed India-US nuclear accord by the central committee was implemented.

Responding to a plethora of raucous questioning from the floor about ‘withdrawal of support,’ Prakash Karat said that appropriate measures would be taken by the Polit Bureau, as authorised by the central committee as per the response seen and felt of the UPA government on the proposed nuclear accord in the days to come. He reminded the media persons that another session of the UPA-Left committee was scheduled for October 5.

Noting how a massive protest action has been witnessed in Tamilnadu in favour of the Sethusamudram project, the CPI(M) leader said that the BJP / RSS had no grounds for distorting the representation of what was a geological formation of yore. He expressed surprise at the hypocrisy of the BJP whose government when in office in Delhi had sanctioned the project and organised the alignment of the proposed canal that the Tamilnadu government was now keen to implement.

Prakash Karat also expressed surprise at the way the higher courts have come forth with a duality of policy. On the one hand, they repeat that they would not interfere with administrative action. On the other, the courts of law in the higher echelons come down heavily on whoever protests against any action, protest being a legitimate way of remonstration provided there is no anarchy or violence unleashed.

Critical of the non-performance of the UPA governance, the CPI(M) general secretary pointed out that the union government appeared to be ‘callous about implementation of the pro-people imperatives of the CMP.’ ‘We are deeply unhappy to see the country being forced to import wheat, and for the second year running, at the exorbitantly high rate of Rs 1600 per tonne.’

Prakash Karat wondered what had happened to the much-touted ‘food security’ the UPA claimed the country had achieved. The farmers are kept deprived of a fair price all the time. Prakash Karat said that an inquiry into the ‘wheat scandal’ as it turned out to be must be ordered and soon.

The CPI(M) general secretary criticised the UPA government for not keeping prices of commodities of common consumption down while talking glibly about having controlled inflation. The government also failed to come to terms with the agrarian crisis and ‘we are witness to the tragic spectacle of thousands of farmers forced to commit suicide, into the 60th year of our independence.’

At the same time, the UPA government was keen to feed the profit motive of big corporate houses. Natural gas was extracted from the Krishna-Godavari basin by the Reliance Company and sold at an extraordinary high price. The asked price of US $4.33 per unit was only cosmetically reduced to US $4.20 by the empowered group of ministers, and the burden will be passed cruelly onto the groaning backs of the mass of the people. The UPA government went ahead with this step over the head of the protest of the Andhra Pradesh state government, and even over the head of the opposition of most parties in the parliament.

The CPI(M) has also called for stringent regulations to be put in place in the realm of retail trade. (BP)