May 1998 Edition
Leader of the Samajwadi Party and former Defence Minister Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav said that India would be undeterred by threats of sanctions. He criticized Prime Minister Mr A. B. Vajpayee for writing to the US explaining the reasons for the tests. Mr Yadav said that the fact that the Vajpayee government gave the US a clarification on the nuclear tests `proves India is under pressure from the US.' Observing that the nuclear tests could not have been conducted without several years of advance preparation, he said that the UF too was ready to conduct nuclear tests but the government was toppled before it could do so.
And, while warning against signing the CTBT and NPT, he charged the government of `increasing tensions with the neighbours' and said the country's nuclear capabilities are matters of top secrecy and need not have been revealed.
Mr Yadav, speaking from Patna said the the country would `unitedly' fight the sweeping sanctions imposed by the US after the successful nuclear testing at Pokhran.
Meanwhile, the Janata Dal president Mr Sharad Yadav today reiterated its stand against the Centre's offer to adhere to some of the undertakings of the CTBT.
The Left parties also came strongly against the U.S. and other Western powers for imposing sanctions against India. They urged the Government not to be intimidated by them and sought an assurance that it would not sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) under pressure.
The CPI(M) politburo said in a strongly worded statement that the nuclear power states which had all along supported an ``unequal and discriminatory'' regime had no right ``moral or otherwise'' to impose sanctions against India. ``All sections of the people will unitedly reject any intimidatory tactics directed against India'', it said.
The party argued that in the coming weeks sanctions would be used by Western powers to pressure India into signing the CTBT and other NPT. It warned the Government against ``capitulating'' to such pressures and said that there should be no change in India's long-standing ``consensual'' decision not to sign these treaties.
The CPI(M) also criticised the Government for what it described it as attempt to further open up the economy to foreign capital ``in the name of combating sanctions.'' Already, the Government had announced its decision to offer counter guarantees to three multinational companies for power projects. ``Accelerating this disastrous course will not combat the effect of sanctions but, on the contrary, will make India more vulnerable to foreign economic pressures'', the party said.
The CPI central secretariat also condemned the sanctions using almost the same language as the CPI(M). It said the U.S. had ``no moral right'' to do and it would not succeed in bringing India to ``its knees.'' It was the U.S. which would lose in the long run, the party pointed out in a statement.
The CPI criticized the ``flurry'' of approvals to the multinational projects in the past week, saying it was not the way to fight the economic sanctions imposed by the U.S. and some other countries. ``Generously handing out oil exploration blocks, approving prospecting and mining leases, inducting multinational companies in copper and other business and providing counter- guarantees to a dozen power projects will prove counterproductive in the long run'', the party's Central secretariat said in a statement.
The Left leaders pointed out that such a policy ran contrary to the BJP's own ``swadeshi'' plank. ``If the swadeshi lobby within the BJP had thought that the sanctions would be a blessing in disguise, they should think again'', a CPI leader said.
Back to Nuclear Essay
Back to the main page for South Asian Voice