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Puducherry sees Reds aflutter with anti-nuclear deal campaign

— Photo: T. Singaravelou

CREATING AWARENESS: Activists of the CPI (M) and the CPI launching a campaign against the India-U.S. nuclear deal, in Puducherry on Wednesday.

PUDUCHERRY: Leaders of the Communist Party of India and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Wednesday made it clear that both the parties would not allow the government to thrust the India-U.S. civilian nuclear deal on the people.

Launching the four-day-campaign against the nuclear deal and the “acts of commissions and omissions” of the Central and the territorial governments at Bharathi Nagar here, they said the Left had been opposing the deal on the ground that it would infringe on the sovereignty of India and its national interest.

Secretary of the Puducherry unit of the CPI N.Kalainathan accused the United Progressive Alliance government of succumbing to the U.S. pressure on the issue. It was unfortunate that the government was keen to sign the deal even while paying little attention to spiralling prices and mounting inflation, he said. The prevailing scenario clearly showed that the policies of privatisation and liberalisation followed by the successive governments had not helped the poor and the marginalised sections, he added.

The campaign was also aimed at exposing the territorial government’s “failure to perform,” he said.

According to him, the Congress government in Puducherry had done little to streamline the functioning of the public distribution system. The Chief Minister and the Ministers had been making conflicting remarks on the implementation of schemes and the Union Territory’s finances, he pointed out.

The government had not taken steps to meet the demands of the roofless in the Union Territory, he alleged.

The Ministers had been undertaking visits to New Delhi frequently not for getting Central assistance to execute projects for the Union Territory but to ask the Congress high command to change the Chief Minister, he said.

State Committee member of the CPI (M) T.Murugan said the Left had never compromised on the interest of the people despite extending support to the UPA government for the past four years.

Dubbing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s decision to go ahead with the nuclear deal “arbitrary,” he said it was unfair on the part of some politicians to draw a parallel between the India-U.S. nuclear deal and the U.S.-China deal. The UPA government was not transparent with regard to the nuclear deal, he said. As the number game in Parliament was not in favour of the government, the Congress “indulged in horse trading,” he said.

Mr.Murugan also charged the Bharatiya Janata Party with adopting “double standards” on the issue. The awareness campaign would be launched in all the 28 Assembly segments in Puducherry and Karaikal region, he said.

National council member of the CPI R.Viswananthan and secretary of the Puducherry unit of the CPI (M) V.Perumal also spoke at different constituencies on the issue.

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