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‘Deal will hamper autonomy’
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ASIANAGE on 05 July, 2008 03:42:48
 
BY SUBRATA CHATTOPADHYAY AND DIBYAJYOTI CHAUDHURI
Kolkata
July 5: Notwithstanding reiterating his rigid stand on the Indo-US nuke deal,
CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat on Saturday was evasive on the deadline
of withdrawal of the Left’s support to the Congress-led UPA government.
Emphasising that the "deal" would not only be "detrimental to the Indian
sovereignty", it would also hamper "strategic autonomy of the country’.
Earlier, asked on "the deadline of the Left’s withdrawal of support from the
Centre" Mr Karat said, "We have sent a letter to Pranab Mukherjee on Friday and
we are waiting for his reply." Significantly, Mr Karat who called on party
patriarch Jyoti Basu along with Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
and CPI(M) state secretary Biman Bose, seemed a bit chastened after being
acquainted with the views of the state leadership. Sources revealed Mr Karat
apprised Mr Basu of the latest developments on the UPA-Left stand-off on the
Indo-US civil nuclear deal. Mr Basu, who had always advocated that the UPA
government should be allowed to complete it’s tenure, prescribed Mr Karat "not
to be hurried to pull the plug of the Central government".
Addressing the birth centenary of CPI parliamentarian Hiren Mukherjee lecture
along with the CPI counterpart A.B. Bardhan, Mr Karat said, "The independent
foreign policy of India will be hampered if the nuke deal goes through. India
should have a non-aligned foreign policy free from US domination. A 40-year
contract with the US will have a vital bearing on India’s course in the 21st
century." "The pipeline from Iran will be jeopardised as well, since the US is
interfering in Indo-Iran co-operation, Mr Karat added.
"The cost of per unit will be Rs 5.50 as opposed to Rs 2.50 of coal based
power," he explained.
He also blamed the US for "imposing war on Iraq to control its petroleum
resources." "Rising petroleum prices is not due to Chinese or Indian
consumption, it is a result of speculation and a super power’s quest to
control resources of the world," he reasoned.
Echoing his stance, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan stressed on the
non-aligned stance of India since the days of the Korean war. "The nuke deal has
clauses that will directly effect India’s foreign policy. Moreover, rising
uranium prices and the disposal of nuclear waste makes the cost viability of
nuclear power questionable," he said. Mr Bardhan also remarked that it is too
late for a national debate on the topic. "A national debate over the nuke deal
has been raging for the last two years," Mr Bardhan said. He also, like Mr
Karat, did not mention the possible deadline for withdrawal of support from the
Centre.