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Left hijacks foreign policy |
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Harjit Singh
For what had started as a Left-supported government in which the Congress had seemingly kept the Marxists at bay is becoming a left-dominated government in which the Congress is the apologist for Marxist policy revisionism. The Left seems to be ruling by proxy. The Communists must be back-thumping themselves for their success in playing spoiler and forcing down the gullets of the UPA Government their demand for deep-freezing the crucial Indo-US civilian nuclear cooperation agreement. The Government has dutifully put the Indo-US nuclear deal on hold after the Left demanded a formal death announcement. Unmindful of the very small window left between now and the Bush Administration entering its lame-duck period ahead of elections next year, the Left parties have ensured that the nuclear deal is deposited in the deep freeze in spite of the refusal of the Manmohan Singh Government to give a written undertaking that its last rites have been performed. The buzz in the political circles is that ruing the fractured mandate of the UPA Government which was coming in the way of his pursuing his agenda in the economic and foreign policy fields, frustrated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offered to step down. Neither the Communists nor the smaller partners in the UPA Government are standing by him on the nuclear deal though the latter were party to the approval of the deal by the Cabinet. Parties like RJD of Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar and DMK of Karunanidhi are more concerned about how many seats they will get if there is a snap poll rather than how much loss India’s credibility will suffer if the Government does not go ahead with the agreement.
Perhaps, the Ministry of External affairs and the Prime Minister’s Office had not taken the possible opposition from this quarter into account before signing the document and are surprised by this unwelcome turn of events. But, this is not the first time that the Communists have chosen the path of confrontation with the Manmohan Singh Government. Though they agreed to support the Government from outside and are signatories to the Common Minimum Programme, right from day one, they have tied the Government into knots both on foreign policy matters and on economic reforms. Anything that is not suited to them [or for that matter to China] is , in their eyes, against the interests of the country. Before they raised insurmountable barriers in the way of operationalisation of the Indo-US nuclear deal, they crossed swords with the Manmohan Singh Government on the issue of India’s vote against Iran at the IAEA as well as the growing Indo-Israeli relations. The Marxist supporters of the Government from outside are demanding discontinuation of India’s strong economic and military ties with Israel. They are least interested in the security concerns of India. At its 18th party congress in Chandigarh, the CPI(M) demanded snapping of all military ties with Israel.
The agitation by the Left parties over the UPA Government’s vote at the IAEA on Iran’s nuclear programme is still fresh in the mind. The CPI(M) accused the Manmohan Singh Government of caving in to US pressure and demanded that at the next meetings, India take a stand in consonance with an ‘independent foreign policy’ and national interest. Rattled by the onslaught of the Left, the Government rushed in to clarify that it had backed the IAEA resolution on Iran’s nuclear programme to avert what could have turned into a major confrontation between the Islamic republic and the international community.
The same has been the case on the issue of economic reforms and policies. The Left is hell-bent on opposing the Government whether it is on disinvestment of public enterprises, fuel prices or the FDI. So, a clutch of reforms – limiting power subsidies, FDI in retail, higher FDI ceiling in insurance, pension, private participation in mining – all have been put on hold. Seeking to placate the Left parties last year, the Manmohan Singh Government put on hold its plan for disinvestment in Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited [BHEL]. The Left parties protested against the Centre’s decision to offload government stake in a navratna PSU which, they said, violated the spirit of the Common Minimum Programme.
It is seen from the Congress Party’s backing away from the nuclear deal with a great deal of reluctance that the Congress at the Centre appears to be somewhat at a loss on how to deal with the almost ceaseless attacks by the comrades on various issues of foreign policy and security interests and economic policy reforms such as disinvestment, pension fund reforms, labour laws, FDI in the retail sector and so on. They threaten to scuttle any move which is not to their liking or does not fit in with their ideology and agenda. The Government is keeping the Communists in good humour. Still, it is doubtful if these genuflections in the direction of populism will bring a smile on the face of CPI(M) supremo Prakash Karat. Party interests of the Communists will invariably over-ride the national security interests.
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