US-India nuke deal will be a national tragedy: Left

New Delhi, Aug.10: Cutting across party lines, Left leaders on Friday again reiterated that the operationalising of the US-India civilian nuclear deal would be national tragedy.

Addressing reporters in the Parliament complex on the first day of the resumed Monsoon session, CPI leader Gurudas Dasgupta and CPI-M leader Basudev Acharya said they anticipated "serious consequences" once the deal was operationalised, but refused to reveal what the consequences would be.

"I don't know what the consequences will be, but a majority of the political parties are opposed to the (proposed) Bill. The Government should take the consent of Parliament," said Dasgupta.

Dasgupta's latest salvo was a follow-up to Tuesday's announcement that Left parties are "unable to accept the (123) agreement," inked by Washington and New Delhi last month after more than two years of deliberation on the technical aspects of the pact.

The Left leaders are demanding that Parliament review the strategic aspect of Indo-US relations, and have told the government not to operationalise the agreement.

The four-party alliance, comprising of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), Communist Party of India (CPI), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), have decided to press for a Constitutional amendment for bringing international treaties and certain bilateral agreements for approval in Parliament.

"We will oppose the Bill inside and outside the House. The deal will harm the interests of the nation. It will be a national tragedy if that deal becomes operational. In future, before the signing of international bilateral agreements, it should be ratified by Parliament. A sense of the House should be taken before operationalising the Bill," said Dasgupta, weeks after senior American and Indian officials literally burnt the midnight oil in Washington to sort out their differences on the bilateral 123 agreement.

Dasgupta further said that the Executive is accountable to Parliament.

"If the majority is opposed to the agreement, the government should not materialise the deal," he said.

India and the US on August 3 simultaneously released the text of 123 Agreement, which will allow India access to the American nuclear fuel and technology, including the international fuel market, for its growing energy needs.

Commenting on the introduction of the Social Security bill for Unorganised Labour, Basudev Acharya said the Bill should not only be focussed on unorganised labour, but also on organised labour.

"Unorganised labour will not get any benefit from the Bill. All trade unions should be compensated," Acharya said.

His views amounted to an endorsement of trade unions describing the Unorganised Labour Bill as an act ofÏ¿Ï¿½ "self-deception". On Wednesday, trade union leaders warned that they will launch a nation-wide agitation against the Bill, which aims to provide social security to the unorganised sector workers.

The Bill would provide for setting up of a National Advisory Board for the welfare of unorganised workers. The government has proposed to introduce the Bill for the unorganised sector in pursuance of the commitments made in the National Common Minimum Programme.

According to the survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation in 1999-2000, out of the total employment of 39.7crore, about 93 per cent of the workforce belong to the unorganised sector. The bulk of the unorganised sector is engaged in the agriculture sector followed by construction.

The two Left leaders also called on members of Parliament to review the steps being taken to bring the flood situation in eastern and northeastern India, and in Gujarat, under control. They said that weeks of flooding had spread a trail of devastation, and had left millions homeless.

They also said that Parliament needed to debate the rise in the prices of essential items, particularly vegetables, the unwarranted entry of big retailers, the state of foreign direct investment and special economic zones, the move to universalise the public distribution system and the recent violence against people in Andhra Pradesh's Khamam District.

On the issue of forward and futures trading, both Dasgupta and Acharya said it should be immediately withdrawn.

ANI>