Left Opposition: Some Clarifications

We are thankful to the EPW for taking a principled position against the nuclear deal and exposing the malicious anti-left propaganda unleashed by a section of the mainstream media. However, in the editorials of August 11 and September 1 there are some critical references to the left’s position on the issue, mainly on account of it being inconsistent. The EPW editorial of August 11, 2007 states: “The left is right in arguing that the deal is part of a larger web of relationships...[h]owever, this position of the left will not convince anybody, for until now it has formulated its arguments largely on the lines put out by the domestic nuclear lobby which has carried out a high-pitched campaign that the pact with the US will, in particular, place constraints on India’s nuclear weapons programme.

Such criticism of the left position is unjustified. A perusal of the public statements issued by the CPI(M) and the left parties on the issue would help in clarifying the matter (all the statements are available at http://cpim. org/). The very first statement of the CPI(M) following the Bush visit, issued on March 6, 2006 on Indo-US Strategic Partnership stated: