The Hindu : Front Page : Statement does not shed any new light: CPI(M)

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Wednesday, Aug 15, 2007
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Statement does not shed any new light: CPI(M)

Special Correspondent

“It is difficult to agree with Manmohan that the agreement has no impact on our independent foreign policy”

Lifetime security for nuclear fuel has not been achieved
Right to reprocess spent U.S. fuel subject to conditions

NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Tuesday reiterated its stand that the Government should not proceed with the India-U.S. civil nuclear agreement. It said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement in Parliament “does not shed any new light” that calls for a re-assessment by the party.

Hours after CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat met Dr. Singh and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, the party Polit Bureau said the more important issue that the Left parties had been raising from the beginning was the link that the agreement had with India’s foreign policy.

“Strategic value”

“Here, the issue is not what the Prime Minister is saying but what his Government is doing. The Defence Framework Agreement of 2005, the Logistics Support Agreement being negotiated currently, the joint naval exercises being planned and the stand on the Iran nuclear issue are there before us. Therefore, it is difficult to agree with the Prime Minister that this agreement has no impact on our independent foreign policy, especially when the U.S. officials are busy selling the agreement to U.S. Congress on the strategic value of India aligning with the U.S. as a consequence of the agreement,” the Polit Bureau said in a statement.

Apart from foreign policy, the CPI(M) focussed on four issues not addressed by the Dr. Singh in his statement. For instance, Dr. Singh said the annual certification by the U.S. President to Congress did not find a place in the 123 agreement, but that was not relevant. The CPI(M) wanted to know if “a good conduct certificate” was not forthcoming or if the U.S. Congress did not accept the good conduct certificate given (on issues ranging from Iran to anything that might come up in the future), what the implications would be for the 123 agreement. “In our understanding, the U.S. could terminate the agreement with all its consequences for India’s civil nuclear energy programme.”

“Only assurances”

The statement said the Left parties did not think lifetime security for nuclear fuel had been achieved in the agreement. India only had assurances while the Hyde Act contained provisions, under which if the U.S. terminated the agreement it would not help India tide over the “disruption” but would be obligated to work with the Nuclear Supplies Group to stop all supplies.

On full access to technology for the fuel cycle, the CPI(M) said it was clear that this would not be available to India and that the Prime Minister “has essentially confirmed this; the only concession finally secured is forward-looking language.”

The fourth point made by the CPI(M) was that while Dr. Singh emphasised the gains made with regard to the right to reprocess spent U.S. fuel, in its understanding this was only a notional right at present and subject to conditions that might emerge in the future.

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