The Manmohan Singh government appears to be having teething problems in firming up the proposed UPA-Left committee meant to look into the Left’s concerns and objections over the Indo-US nuclear deal, even as the CPI-M today unleashed a propaganda war blasting the government for pushing the deal as part of “pushing through the US agenda” on all fronts.

After hammering out an uneasy interim truce with its crucial Left allies on 30 August, the ruling Congress-led UPA had announced the decision to constitute this committee, stating “the operationalisation of the deal will take into account the committee’s findings”. The Left sources have maintained that the committee will comprise six members from four Left parties, five from the Congress, and one each from UPA constituents like the RJD, DMK and NCP.

While the government may not be in a hurry over the committee’s formation and the completion of its tricky exercise, the Left would like this mechanism to get going fast and wrap up its mandated work soon.

Apart from finding suitable representatives from the Congress-led UPA camp for the composition of the committee, the Manmohan Singh government seems to be also struggling with working out proper formulation for its terms of reference as well as its timeframe-related aspect.

Barely a day after warning the government yet again that it would “plunge into crisis” if it goes ahead with operationalising the deal by holding the next-stage India-specific safeguards negotiations with the IAEA during its Vienna conclave in mid-September, a CPI-M pamphlet asserted that the deal was part of “a much larger programme in which India is to become a partner in the US strategic vision,” adding “this deal should be seen as a part of Manmohan Singh government’s attempt to integrate India more closely with the US”.

Ahead of the Left’s planned campaign against the multi-nation naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal during 4-9 September, which will also involve US forces and warships, the CPM today brought out a series of pamphlets slamming the growing Indo-US strategic ties and projecting that the nuclear pact was aimed at “pushing through the US agenda in all fields of concern to our people, whether it is the sovereignty of India, the interests of common people, farmers, of workers and employees”.

“The majority of Indian Parliament” is against the deal, the CPM said. “By refusing to accept the majority view, government sends a message which is harmful for Indian democracy,” it stated in a pamphlet titled “Don’t Proceed With the Nuclear Deal”.

Holding that the “deal has little to do with interests of India or the Indian people,” the CPM said, “It is ... part of a wider strategic alliance to make India the outpost of American interests in Asia.” Rapping the Prime Minister for having “stated that George Bush is the greatest friend of India,” the party said “in his own country, Bush is regarded as the most unpopular President”.

“For the first time in Independent India’s history, the Government of India has signed a deal which is subordinate to the law of another country,” the party said. While the PM gave assurances in Parliament in September last year, the US Parliament passed the Hyde Act in December “bulldozing” his assurances, the CPM charged. “India’s foreign policy will be assessed every year by the American President and an annual report card will be given to the American Parliament whether India has passed the test of behaving as a good friend to their interests. If India for example opposes the war in Iraq or opposes America’s threats to Iran or anywhere else in the world, it will get a black mark. Can any sovereign country with a minimum of self-respect ever accept such a condition.”

(Courtesy: Statesman News Service)