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Saturday, Sep 01, 2007
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We will have to wait and see: Karat

Special Correspondent

“Government must not misjudge us”

Says nuclear deal should not be seen in isolation
“Fight against imperialism is equally important”

KOLKATA: “We will have to wait and see in the next few weeks what the committee does and what the outcome is…. we do not want to go beyond that at present… But the government must not misjudge us,” Prakash Karat, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said here on Friday.

He was referring to the committee of political leaders the UPA government has agreed to constitute to look into certain aspects of the Indo-U.S. bilateral agreement on nuclear cooperation, a move he described as “good”. “There was still time to save us from the finality of the nuclear cooperation agreement,” Mr. Karat added.

The whole question is that those in favour of the nuclear deal “[if they are] to be honest, must say that they are not only in favour of the nuclear agreement but also for going in for a grand alliance with the USA,” Mr. Karat said. “The nuclear agreement should not be seen in isolation,” he added.

He was delivering the Naren Sen Memorial Lecture 2007, on “Indo-U.S. Strategic relations in the Perspective of the Nuclear Pact”, organised by the Promode Dasgupta Memorial Trust.

“Naren Sen’s beginnings as a freedom fighter against British imperialism and emerging as a Communist leader is a good illustration of how in our country the anti-imperialist movement brought the finest fighters to the communist movement”, Mr. Karat said.

“Our opposition today to the Indo-U.S. nuclear agreement and the overall strategic alliance with the USA is carrying on the legacy of our freedom struggle and the fight against imperialism which is still relevant in 21st century India”, Mr. Karat said.

“All through [for the past three years] we have kept the government going because of our political priorities to fight communalism. But the fight against imperialism is equally important as it [imperialism] only strengthens the rightwing and communal forces…. So the basis of our opposition [to the nuclear deal] must be clearly understood”, Mr. Karat emphasised.

He recalled references by the Bush administration of the nuclear deal being a strategic gain for the U.S. “Why is the U.S., the most powerful imperialist nation, so keen to harness India as a reliable and potential ally?” he asked, suggesting that the purpose was three-fold — that of seeking political, economic and military collaboration with India. “This is not just a fight against nuclear cooperation [with the U.S.] which has far-reaching implications on our foreign policy but also the strategic alliance partnership with that country which affects our economic sovereignty and harms the interests of all sections of our working people.

“The CPI(M) and the Left will never accept this path for India. We re not going to be judged by history – as the Prime Minister says – as parties which facilitated the government to arrive at a harmful strategic alliance that is binding on India. We do not want to be a part of that. This is the heart of the political crisis in India,” he said. On the implications of the Hyde Act, Mr. Karat said: “you cannot hide the Hyde Act; that is the reality. Whatever legal arguments they [the government] are trotting out, we say ‘no’”, he said.

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