The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : India will become a glorified slave of the U.S.: Pinarayi

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India will become a glorified slave of the U.S.: Pinarayi

Special Correspondent

Says N-deal will affect India’s sovereignty

KOCHI: The nuclear agreement with the U.S. will turn India into a “glorified slave” of that country, Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said here on Friday.

Once the deal becomes operational, India cannot follow an independent foreign policy or even domestic policies that go against the interests of American capital, Mr. Vijayan said at meeting organised by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) to explain to the people why the Left withdrew its support to the Manmohan Singh government and why it opposed the nuclear deal.

Explaining how India’s sovereignty would be compromised by the deal, Mr. Vijayan claimed that if the U.S. decided to attack Iran, which is a long-time ally of India, the ports in the country would be used to launch attacks on Teheran and its naval bases would be used as resting places for American troops. Already, India had been forced to have joint naval exercises with the navies of the U.S. and those of its allies.

He recalled that even before the deal was signed, India was forced to vote twice against Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Again, India, who in the past had refrained from any contact with Israel, was forced to launch an Israeli spy satellite whose exclusive purpose was to keep tabs of Iranian military.

He noted that India was badly in need of natural gas and Iran had been willing to supply it to India and Pakistan was ready to let the Iran-India gas pipelines through its territory. But, under pressure from the U.S., India was now backing out of the Iran-India-Pakistan gas project.

Mr. Vijayan warned that an American attack on Iran would hit millions of Indians working in the Persian Gulf countries.

The livelihood of lakhs of Malayalis in UAE and other Arab countries which were in Iran’s neighbourhood would be lost.

He pointed out that in spite of its poverty and other domestic problems, India had commanded respect all over the world because of its independent foreign policy and the bold stand it had taken on global issues.

The alliance with the U.S. and Israel had seriously damaged the image of India.

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