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Indian Left Parties to Pressure Government Over Iran "No" Vote at Nuclear Body

Posted on: Monday, 3 October 2005, 18:00 CDT

Text of report by Indian news agency PTI

New Delhi, 3 October: Describing the Indian government's policy on the Iran nuclear issue as "wrong", Left parties Monday [3 October] said they would launch a nationwide campaign to pressure the government to pursue a non-aligned foreign policy saying India's IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] vote against Iran was a "serious departure" from an "independent" policy.

The Left conclave, a constituent of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) outfit, supports the Congress-led coalition government on the floor of Parliament but insists its alliance with the ruling coalition is based on the government's adherence to the Common Minimum Programme jointly agreed upon by alliance partners.

After an hour-long meeting here, the CPI-M [Communist Party of India - Marxist], CPI [Communist Party of India], Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party decided to launch the campaign with a convention in October-end involving Samajwadi Party, JD [Janata Dal] (Secular) and other parties, besides foreign diplomats and other experts.

The date of the convention has been decided keeping in view the next board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to be held in November.

"It will be a broad-based campaign... [ellipsis as carried] there are many individuals and experts willing to join it," CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat, who had squarely blamed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the "turnaround" on the Iran nuclear issue, told reporters here.

His CPI counterpart A.B. Bardhan said, "we have told the prime minister that there is time for India (till the next IAEA board meeting) to see to it that the matter does not go to the UN Security Council."

Source: BBC Monitoring South Asia

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