NEW DELHI, 19 September 2007 — Not willing to change their stand against the India-US nuclear deal, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) organized a protest rally in the capital city yesterday.
Addressing the rally, CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat said that the government must not pursue the deal till a full-fledged discussion on it is held in the Parliament.
“We still hope that the government ...will not come under US pressure and not go ahead with the agreement,” Karat said. “Do not operationalize the deal for at least six months. The government should wait for the outcome of a discussion in Parliament before taking any decision in this matter.”
“Otherwise there will be a political crisis in the country; we don’t want this crisis,” he warned.
The rally was held just a day ahead of the meeting, scheduled for today, between the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) and the left committee on the nuclear deal. The CPI-M’s protest rally in the capital city is a part of countrywide agitation organized by the left parties against the deal.
“There is no compromise in our stand. We want to tell the public about the harmful impact of this accord, which the government is trying to foist on the nation,” CPI-M leader Nilotpal Basu said.
Despite the left and the Congress leaders having till now exercised restraint in criticizing each other over the deal, suddenly they appear to have crossed the limits giving this verbal row an ugly turn.
It began with Congress minister Kapil Sibal’s comments about Gurudas Dasgupta (Communist Party of India). Referring to him, Sibal said: “He is a very seasoned politician. The problem is the contradiction in his name and the ideology of the CPI-M. The ‘guru’ (teacher) is somewhere and the ‘das’ (disciple) is elsewhere.”
Sibal also criticized the left’s stand against the deal, saying: “I want to know from the left why they are opposing the deal. Is there some other reason that you are not telling us? You’re so open on your opposition to us, please be equally open on why you are opposing this deal.”
Reacting to Sibal’s remarks, Dasgupta said: “He will not consult us while doing something very important. He lacks the elementary knowledge, therefore he has made this irresponsible comment. I don’t take him seriously. He is neither a representative of the government, nor a senior minister. This speaks of the low culture and the lack of decency of the person concerned. If he lacks decency, I’m not surprised.”
The left parties are also engaged in preparing their stand on the government’s response to the apprehensions voiced by them against the deal.
This is expected to be the key issue at today’s UPA-left meeting. Without elaborating on the government’s response, Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) said yesterday: “We have received the government’s response. We are studying it. We will give our reply to it at the committee meeting.”
Meanwhile, though the Indian Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar is in Vienna for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) meet, discussions on India-specific safeguards agreements have yet to take place.
On this, IAEA Director General Mohammed El-Baradei told a press conference that they are waiting for Indian authorities to come for talks on safeguards. “So far, they have not approached us,” he said.
