No Love Left....is the Left Right??? - Page 3

There's a similar kind of thread posted by Myth just a few days back:

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/debate-mansion/707781/no-love-left-is-the-left-right

Originally posted by: souro

<FONT face="Times New Roman, Times, serif" color=#990099 size=4>There's a similar kind of thread posted by Myth just a few days back:

https://www.indiaforums.com/forum/debate-mansion/707781/no-love-left-is-the-left-right

Originally posted by: raksha.l

Souro, I clicked the above link twice and it was only leading to this same post that we are at... 😕

Anyways, what are your views on this topic???

Raksha, Minnee opened a separate new thread with her questions and I informed her about this existing thread. After that the mods moved our posts to this thread, that's why it looks odd. Infact even I was flummoxed when I saw that I've posted in this thread when I clearly remembered posting in a separate thread.

source --> http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1512/15120200.htm

This was back in 1998 when India had actually utilized the nuclear option, what this article tells us is The Communists were in opposition of India actually going the nuclear option, saying we have so much problem within that we should not go this route, especially with BJP/RSS in power(that this will be termed as a Hindu Bomb)

The fact that it took us closer to America and we were being Jingoistic about the nuclear option and alienating China was a big concern then for these guys, not that we bought ourselves some additional security. They were totally against our concept of nuclear testing back then!!!

Vol. 15 :: No. 12 :: June 06 - 19, 1998



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COVER STORY


A lethal link
Unless the link between the bomb and Hindutva is recognised and all secular and democratic forces are rallied along with the Left, the aggressive chauvinism sought to be fostered by nuclear weapons will provide the thrust for an authoritarian state.

PRAKASH KARAT


THE Bharatiya Janata Party-led Government is determined to fulfil the long-cherished desire of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) that India make a nuclear bomb. This is the meaning of the five nuclear tests at Pokhran. Amidst the general euphoria that has manifested itself in the media and in educated public opinion, many follies are being put out, which only aid and abet the plans of the BJP-RSS combine.

The commonest folly, committed by even those who do not share the BJP's jingoistic and chauvinist aims, is to see the Pokhran tests purely in a "scientific-technological" mode, divorced from the political-ideological framework in which the BJP-led Government has taken this deliberate decision. For many of those who have taken pride in the event, the 1998 nuclear tests at Pokhran are another milestone in India's scientific and technological capabilities. According to this simplistic viewpoint, it is a symbol of India's independent strength and growing scientific achievement, which should be welcomed by all patriotic citizens. This is a dangerous illusion. It arises from a failure to link the drive to acquire nuclear weapons with the Hindutva agenda of the BJP and its mentor, the RSS.

The RSS has long dreamt of making India a chauvinistic-militaristic power based on majoritarian rule. For such a Hindu Rashtra to succeed, it must be able to mobilise people around an aggressive anti-Muslim platform and create a permanent divide between Hindus and Muslims that can justify an authoritarian state.

That is why in the 1960s, when India achieved nuclear capability, the Bharatiya Jan Sangh became a fervent advocate of making an atom bomb. The bomb was the mascot of the RSS long before the Ram temple acquired religious-political overtones for it in the 1980s. If the BJP's climb to power was aided by the temple-mosque controversy at Ayodhya, with the party coming to power at the Centre, the RSS has set out the next step in its long-term agenda of India making the bomb. The consequent escalation of tensions between India and Pakistan is part of the agenda. Viewed in this light, the retaliatory tests undertaken by Pakistan are what the RSS-BJP hoped would happen.

S. ARNEJA
The Chief of General Staff of the People's Liberation Army of China, Gen. Fu Quanyou, during his visit to India in April.

Hence, to see the Pokhran tests as a natural culmination of India's nuclear policy from the 1950s is not only naive but harmful to the very basis of a secular democratic Indian state. Just as the Ram temple movement struck at the foundations of the secular state, the aggressive chauvinism sought to be fostered by nuclear weapons will provide the thrust for an authoritarian state unless the link between the bomb and Hindutva is recognised and all secular and democratic forces are rallied along with the Left to fight back this reactionary offensive.

THE other folly that is being widely committed is to seek to make nuclear weapons acceptable and legitimate as an instrument for the Indian state's political and diplomatic strategies. People ranging from strategic experts to nuclear scientists are making vocal efforts to 'sanitise' nuclear weapons and make them appear normal. P.K. Iyengar, a former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, has justified the country going nuclear, stating that a nuclear bomb is much cheaper than conventional weapons. According to him, a bomb costs less than Rs. 1 crore while a fighter plane costs much more. What he has not said is that building the infrastructure for this "cheap" bomb and sustaining a delivery system will cost thousands of crores of rupees. With Pakistan following suit, the resultant arms race will be a constant drain on India's resources.

It is more than just a folly to use nuclear weapons as an instrument to settle India's outstanding problems with its neighbours, whether it is Pakistan or China. Union Home Minister L.K. Advani issued a written statement asking Pakistan to behave on the Kashmir problem, holding out the threat that India has now nuclear weapon status. It is this mindset that gets encouraged when nuclear weapons are seen separately from their character as weapons of mass destruction. The basic objection to nuclear weapons is their potential for mass destruction, which can wipe out human civilisation. Forces like the RSS and its various outfits, which do not hesitate to wield the nuclear weapon as an instrument for consolidating power and settling scores with Pakistan, can only push India back to barbarism.

THOSE experts who view nuclear weapons purely in terms of strategic game plans, forgetting the vital fact that the Indian Government is today in the hands of the BJP-RSS combine, should read the May 17 issue of Organiser. This issue was brought out as a Pokhran anniversary special and released in advance to coincide with the blasts. The various articles captioned "The Nuclear Option", "Time to Tame Pakistan", and anti-China articles titled "On Sino-Indian Conflict" and "How China Annexed Tibet" vividly state what has been the outlook of the RSS and its outfits since the 1960s: the bomb has to be made in order to "tame Pakistan" and teach China a lesson for its occupation of Indian territory.

The resort to militarism and jingoism is the stock-in-trade of all reactionary authoritarian-fascist forces. History is replete with examples of right-wing regimes that whipped up feelings against an imagined enemy within society or an enemy abroad. In the case of the BJP-RSS combine, the domestic anti-minority-baiting is complemented by an external "Muslim Pakistan" which is backed by China. Those supporters of nuclear weaponisation who seek to distance themselves from the BJP Government's belligerence to its neighbours must realise that the making of the bomb is an extension of a chauvinist foreign policy that is integral to the RSS outlook. One has only to read the foreign policy pronouncements of the Jan Sangh in the 1960s to realise the consistency in its outlook. The Jan Sangh used to demand that Taiwan be recognised as the Republic of China, that the Dalai Lama be treated as the head of the Tibetan government in exile and that, to counter the "Pindi-Peking axis", India should make the atom bomb. Basically not much has changed in the motivation for the BJP's foreign policy today.

The print and electronic media have greatly aided the designs of the BJP-RSS combine. Much of the print media, both the mainstream English newspapers and the influential language dailies in different States, have highlighted the making of the nuclear bomb as an assertion of India's might and scientific achievement. All this cannot be merely accounted for by feelings of national pride. In recent years, mirroring the developments in the Indian ruling classes, most of the mainstream media have shifted to avowedly right-wing positions. This is most evident in economic policies but is getting increasingly reflected in social and political positions. The same editors who vocally advocate India's opening up to foreign capital and the surrender of India's sovereign decision-making powers are now glorifying the BJP Government's reckless militarism as "national resurgence" and "explosion of self-esteem".

THE BJP has not been motivated by any anti-imperialist aims to challenge the existing nuclear order. It is essential to differentiate between anti-imperialism and jingoism. The build-up and rationale for the Pokhran tests was the security threat posed by China and its support to Pakistan. This was an obvious pitch to neutralise opposition from the United States. Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee's letter to U.S. President Bill Clinton on May 11 spelt this out, within hours of the blast.

The implications of this course for the region are unfolding. In the case of Sino-Indian relations, it will mean a unilateral, unwarranted and indefensible reversal of the process of normalisation and improvement of relations. The disruption of this process is something which the U.S. will find profitable.

The difference in the approach to the U.S. and China was clearly illustrated before the Pokhran blasts. Delhi saw the visit of two Generals in April. The first was the U.S. Chief of the Army Staff, Dennis J. Reimer, who was followed a few days later by Gen. Fu Quanyou, Chief of the General Staff of the Chinese Army. The visit of the U.S. Army chief took place as part of the "strategic dialogue" between the two countries.

The U.S. chief received a warm welcome and Defence Minister George Fernandes agreed to develop and extend further military cooperation with the U.S. armed forces. However, the Vajpayee Government was noticeably lukewarm to the visit of the Chinese General, unavoidable though it was since the decision to host the visit had been taken earlier.

DOMESTICALLY the implications of militarism and the political use of the nuclear bomb will be a direct offensive against the working people and their movements. When the regime steps up tensions with neighbours and calls for military preparedness, sacrifices will have to be made and, naturally, these sacrifices will have to be made by the ordinary people. The poor will be told that there is less money for food, housing, health and other benefits. Development funds will have to be diverted to defence and the nuclear arms race will have its inexorable toll on the nation's budget and the country's resources. In such a situation, big capital has to be boosted and kept happy and the poor sacrificed. The discontent and the consequent waves of protest will be met with authoritarian repression. National security to meet "external threats" and internal security for the rich, will become a single unified agenda.

This is the path to authoritarianism. It will be fuelled by the cry for stability at all costs and demands for change in the political system to ensure that discontent and diversity of views are suppressed. It is in this context that the BJP's talk of reviewing the Constitution and ushering in a presidential form of government and thrusts to ride roughshod over federalism must be seen.

The U.S. Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen. Dennis J. Reimer at Rashtrapati Bhavan. The difference in the BJP Government's approach to the U.S. and China was illustrated during the visits of the Generals to India.

Sections of the Indian ruling classes, including the big bourgeoisie, find this option attractive. The strength of the BJP lies in the support and patronage it receives from the most reactionary and right-wing sections of the ruling circles. They include elements in the bureaucracy, the scientific-military establishment and the upper echelons of the media. This does not, however, mean that the BJP can easily go ahead with such a game plan at the present juncture.

The monolithic unity that the BJP aspires to build among the ruling circles cannot be built or sustained. The authoritarian- communal agenda will come up against opposition from other non-Left parties and sections of the establishment.

THE only correct nuclear policy that will meet India's requirements as a country with an independent foreign policy which is committed to peace and non-alignment is to desist from going in for nuclear weaponisation. Even after the Pokhran tests, a political decision has to be taken that India will not make and deploy nuclear weapons; secondly, while we refuse to sign discriminatory treaties like the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, India should campaign internationally for a review of the NPT and the CTBT so that a genuine basis is created for advancing towards universal nuclear disarmament.

The fight against the BJP's tactics will be waged by the broad masses of the working people who will experience a steady deterioration in their living conditions and an equally repressive regime which deprives them of their democratic rights. The communal-jingoistic liberalisation offensive can be fought back by the widest unity forged through these struggles. The building of a powerful united movement of opposition to the entire gamut of the Vajpayee Government's policies - foreign, political, economic, communal and nuclear policy - will be the central thrust for the fightback by the Left and democratic forces.

Prakash Karat is a member of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).


so now fast forward to 2007, after reading all that

when India is signing an accord by which India is going to (supposedly)curb its nuclear program and utilize its resources to serve the poor, the Left should be happy, No more nuclear tests, good right?

no, now we are signing a deal with the Americans, is what is hurting the Left, it doesnt matter to them that we have backout measures of this deal, it doesnt matter to the Left that we can utilize the nuclear resources to help our power situation in India

All that matters to the left is we are signing a deal with the Americans One question is how come people keep on voting for these guys for decades?