Left, JD(S), Muslim groups slam nuke deal

Left parties and JD(S) joined hands with Muslim social organisations to lambast the govt for the nuke deal.

Left parties and JD(S) on Tuesday joined hands with several Muslim social organisations to lambast the UPA government for the Indo-US nuclear deal, saying it was part of the ruling elite’s bid to become a strategic partner of American “imperialism”.

The day-long conference against imperialism saw the participants unanimously adopted a resolution which condemned “attempts” by the government and corporate houses for trying to get the “dubious status of some kind of a nuclear weapons state”, which they said did not mean anything for the masses.

During the conference, the leaders also condemned terrorism, but came down heavily on “victimisation” of innocents in the name of curbing terror, especially those belonging to minority communities, and “dividing” the people on the basis of religion.

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Besides CPI(M), CPI, RSP, Forward Bloc and JD(S), around 15 Muslim organisations led by Jamat-e-Islami Hind (JeIH) and several NGOs took part in the conference.

Decrying the nuclear deal, CPI(M) leader Mohd Salim said providing atomic energy was “only a pretext” for the US imperialism to entangle India into its “imperialist web”.

“The context is that three months before the deal was agreed upon in December 2005, a joint military agreement called “Indo-US Defence Framework” was signed between then US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld and then Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee,” he said.

These agreements are clearly aimed at making India a strategic ally of the US in the lines of Israel, Salim said.

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CPI National Secretary Atul Kumar Anjaan said the deal was a “precursor” to India-US partnership in knowledge and agriculture sector.

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