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Left committed to its position on civilian nuclear deal: Yechury
| Disagrees with government view that Hyde Act is only an “enabling Act” |
Hyde Act would have implications for independent foreign policy
There is no consensus on deal, says D. Raja
NEW DELHI: Reiterating their opposition to the India-U.S. civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, the Left parties on Monday warned the UPA government, saying “they cannot support a government that can enter into such a deal with the U.S.”
Reacting to the statement made by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in the Lok Sabha earlier in the day on “Foreign Policy Related Developments” where nuclear deal also found a mention, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury said the Left was committed to its position on the deal.
“The government knows what our stand is on nuclear deal. The statement of the External Affairs Minister is not a single focus statement,” Mr. Yehcury said at a press conference here.
‘Frontal attack on sovereignty’Dwelling upon the reference made in the statement to the Hyde Act, the CPI(M) leader contended that it was a “frontal attack on the sovereignty of India.”
He disagreed with the government view that it was only an “enabling Act” and would not have any effect on India.
He argued that the provisions of the Act would have implications for India’s independent foreign policy and sovereignty by drawing New Delhi into a military alliance with the U.S. and also into security strategy of the U.S. not only globally but also in South Asia.
On the ongoing negotiations of the government with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on safeguards, Mr. Yechury said there “is a written agreement in the UPA-Left Committee that IAEA safeguards agreement will not be initialled and the government will come back and report to the Committee which will take a decision.”
Mr. Yechury said President Bush had signed some communication stating that the conduct of the U.S. foreign policy was a Presidential prerogative. “Our point is where is the hurry to sign the nuclear deal? Let us see the attitude of the new administration. We are committed to our position that we should not proceed to operationalise the deal,” he said.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Gurudas Dasgupta said: “If the government proceeds in the direction of finalising the deal, we will be free to take recourse to our own action and the course is well known to the government.”
His party colleague and CPI national secretary D. Raja said that the government should refrain from going ahead with the nuclear deal as there was no consensus on it.
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