People's Democracy

Bush Se Yaari, Desh Se Gaddhaari

Black Day Observed Against  Nuclear Deal

ON the day she arrived in India to seal the strategic, uneven relationship with the country, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice faced black-flag protests from people across the country demanding her to go back. The protestors also warned the love-blind prime minister Manmohan Singh not to mortgage India�s sovereignty to US imperialism by signing the India-US nuclear deal. The protests were held under the aegis of CPI(M), CPI, TDP, JD(S), Forward Bloc and RSP.

As Condoleezza Rice and Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee were meeting in the palatial Hyderabad House to � in the words of Rice herself ��to talk about the next steps in the US-India relationship� hundreds of protestors marched on their meeting venue from the nearby Mandi House. Shouting loud slogans Jo Bush ke saath hai, woh desh ka dushman hai (The one who is with Bush is an enemy of the nation), Desh se gaddhaari nahi chalegi (We will not allow this betrayal of nation) the protestors led by leaders Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), D Raja (CPI), Mysoora Reddy (TDP), Devarajan (Forward Bloc) and others marched towards Hyderabad House. About a kilometre from the venue of India-US talks, on Kasturba Gandhi Marg, the police erected huge barricades and stopped the protestors.

Squatting on the roads, the protestors continued their full-throated slogans against Rice and Indian government�s surrender to US imperialism. Addressing the protestors, Sitaram Yechury said Manmohan Singh government has one last opportunity to refrain from the disastrous path by not signing the deal. �We have heard that Bush has not yet signed the deal. It would be good for the country if he does not sign it�. He however was not optimistic about good sense dawning on a prime minister who violating his own assurances to parliament, has proceeded to barter away the nation�s sovereignty to US imperialism. He said people of India would not tolerate this total surrender. Warning Manmohan Singh about the fate that befell those heads of governments of UK, Italy, Australia, Japan etc who befriended George Bush, Yechury asserted that the people of India will deliver a greater blow in the coming elections. He said that this struggle to save our nation from the clutches of US imperialism would be intensified in the coming days all over the country.

D Raja in his speech pointed out that the US Congress has adopted an Act to approve the 123 Agreement which has the key provisions of the Hyde Act and much more.  The Act passed by the Congress spells out clearly that India does not have fuel supply assurance, no assurance regarding building a strategic fuel reserve for the life time of the reactor etc.

The speakers pointed out that Condoleezza Rice has assured the US Congress that India will be barred from Enrichment and Reprocessing Technology in the next NSG meeting to be held in November, formalising an unofficial consensus reached during the NSG waiver meeting of September 4-6. The letter written by the Indian Foreign Secretary to Under Secretary William Burns on September 10 also makes clear the other terms of the Agreement.  India is committing to buy a minimum of 10,000 MW from the dying US nuclear industry, which has not received any new order for the last 30 years.  It is going to indemnify suppliers from all consequences of a nuclear accident. 

The Manmohan Singh government has been claiming that the Hyde Act will be overridden by the last Act passed by the US Congress as per US jurisprudence.  Now the last Act contains all the Hyde Act restrictions and they have been made more explicit. The speakers demanded of the Congress led government not to sign Indo-US nuclear deal. 

The meeting at Hyderabad House was presided over by Vijender Sharma [CPI(M)], Dinesh Varshney [CPI], Dharmendra Verma [AIFB] and Montoo Sarkar [RSP].