Even as senior officials of India and the United States seek to clinch an agreement to implement the civil nuclear deal, the CPI(M) has asked the government not to proceed with it unless Washington changes 'harmful' provisions of the law passed by US Congress on the deal.
Alleging that 'unacceptable terms (have been) set for India's foreign policy' under the Henry Hyde Act, the key outside supporter of the Congress-led coalition said 'the government should not proceed with the 123 bilateral negotiations (to operationalize the deal) without getting the United States to change the harmful provisions'.
Acknowledging the government has not so far agreed to accept all the US terms and conditions, the major Left party said 'the danger still remains that in its eagerness to clinch the agreement, it (government) will make unjustifiable concessions which go contrary to the statement of the Prime Minister to Parliament on August 17, 2006'.
In a resolution adopted at its Central Committee meeting late last month, the CPI(M) noted that it was the Hyde Act which would set the parameters for future American Presidents and the US Congress to act upon.
It also said the government was 'not talking about the other terms and conditions of the Hyde Act which will govern the US side'.
CPI(M) Central Committee recalled the efforts being made by the two sides to narrow down differences pertaining to India's right to reprocess spent nuclear fuel.
It said the second major problem concerned the guarantee of fuel supply to India if the agreement was nullified for some reason.
Thirdly, the US wanted the return of all nuclear equipment and fuel supply in case India tests a nuclear device again. "This is a condition to make the voluntary moratorium legally binding", the party pointed out.
