Left protests against Indo-US nuke deal, demands Parliament session

New Delhi, Sept 25 : The Communists and some of their allies staged a protest here on Thursday against the India-US civil nuclear agreement and demanded an immediate convening of Parliament to discuss the issue.

They accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of going back on assurances that he gave in Parliament in connection with the deal, which, they have alleged, would compromise the country's sovereignty.

The Congress party-led ruling coalition United Progressive Alliance (UPA) has been facing flak from political parties, including the Left and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for moving ahead with the deal.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is slated to meet US President George Bush in Washington on Thursday to review the progress of the nuke deal, which awaits the approval of the U.S. Congress.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury said that Dr. Singh had given nine assurances in Parliament, and today as the Prime Minister and President Bush are slated to finalise the Indo-US nuclear deal, every single one of them is being violated.

"We want the Prime Minister to answer to the Parliament as to how India is being made to surrender its sovereignty and become a subordinate ally of US imperialism?" Yechury said, and added, "The assurances he made to the Parliament, those themselves are being violated."

He further added, "The Prime Minister is answerable to the Parliament and we want an immediate convening of a session to discuss these issues, for such dangerous developments cannot be allowed to go on without the Parliament being taken into confidence."

The UPA Government says that the nuclear deal would help India to increase its nuclear power generation by around 25 per cent by 2050 to meet the country's growing energy demand.

At present, nuclear plants in the country generate just three percent of India's total power requirement.

ANI