More political parties joined CPI (M) campaign against Indo-US nuke deal: Karat
11 Aug 2008, 2037 Hrs

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Patna, August 11 (ANI): Communists Party of India-Marxists (CPI-M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said on Monday that more political parties have joined them in their campaign against India-US civil nuclear deal.

Addressing a meeting in Patna today, Karat said that as a part of the Left parties' nationwide political campaign against Indo-US nuclear deal, sky-rocketing prices and neo-liberal economic policies, eight to nine other parties have joined the campaign.

"Apart from the Left, which will continue its campaign, eight to nine other parties have also joined hands (with us) and we will approach public against government's failure of containing inflation and against the (India-US civil) nuclear deal and against communalism," said Karat.

India's atomic energy deal with the United States, which is now back on track after the government won a confidence vote, next faces objections from some countries over selling uranium fuel and technology to the nuclear power.

But analysts say the landmark agreement, worth at least 40 billion dollars for the energy business in a drive to double India's share of nuclear power to around five to seven per cent by 2030, should pass international muster, thanks to staunch U.S. support.

The pact, which would make India a de facto nuclear power despite not signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty and conducting nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998, ran into trouble after Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's government faced a revolt by its former communist allies.

With that battle won, analysts say India and the United States look well placed to muster support from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the next steps needed before it goes to U.S. Congress for approval.

On the other side Communists Party General Secretary A.B. Bardhan blamed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for creating a rift between the Hindu's and the Muslims over the shrine row in Jammu and Kashmir.

"The BJP has taken the advantage of the situation in Jammu and Kashmir (in the wake of revocation of land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB). It has been playing the communal card. It is trying to create a rift between Hindus and Muslims. If this continues then the state will be divided. They are spreading the venom of communalism in the country. The public and the intellectuals never fell in the trap of communalism even after the serial bomb blasts," said Bardhan.

The controversy over the issue of land for SASB has polarized Jammu and Kashmir, split between the Muslim-majority Kashmir and the Hindu-dominated region of Jammu.

The dispute began after the Kashmir government had promised to give forestland to the Trust that runs Amarnath shrine. Many Muslims were enraged.

The government then backed down on its decision. Many Hindus, in turn, were angered in Jammu region.

The predominantly Hindu dominated Jammu has been agitating for the past 40 days for transfer of land to SASB.

The communists are accusing the BJP and its allied Hindu fundamentalist parties for provoking protests on communal lines in Jammu region. (ANI)