As the Left on Tuesday launched a major protest against a joint naval wargame involving the US, the CPI warned the government would have to face the consequences if it ignored concerns expressed by the communists about the civil nuclear deal with America.
"We will attend the committee meeting with the approach that the issues we have raised would be debated, but if the government brushes aside our concerns and goes ahead with its original plan (to operationalise the nuclear deal), it will face the consequences," CPI general secretary AB Bardhan told a gathering of Left supporters. He was referring to the committee that would examine the concerns expressed by the Left over the deal.
Bardhan, who is heading a Left-organised jatha from Kolkata to Vishakpatnam to protest against the joint naval exercise in the Bay of Bengal, said he had no idea about the outcome of the committee set up by the UPA government.
The Left parties have asked the government not to proceed with discussions with IAEA on an India-specific safeguards agreement at the forthcoming meeting of the global nuclear watchdog in Vienna this month.
Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar will travel to Vienna to attend the IAEA conference.
CPI-M patriarch Jyoti Basu, who flagged off the jatha, accused the UPA government of putting the country into the US fold. This, he said, was against the commitment in the Common Minimum Programme to pursue an independent foreign policy.