'Assess foreign and security policies'

NEW DELHI: With the UPA government nearly completing two and a half years and with the appointment of new foreign and defence ministers, the CPI(M) has sought a mid-term review of foreign policy. The party feels it is beset with “serious distortions” because of the “obsessive drive to harmonise positions on regional and global issues with the US's global strategies”.

Reminding External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony of their acquaintance with the non-aligned policy pursued by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, CPI (M) general secretary Prakash Karat appealed to both the foreign and defence ministers to reappraise foreign and security policies.

Cautioning the UPA government against becoming a party to the “war on terror” and getting identified with US and Israel, Karat said this is an appropriate juncture to assess the foreign policy pursued by New Delhi.

“As the US and Israel harp on the battle against Islamic terrorism, the idea of a Christian-Jew-Hindu line-up is propagated by the conservative Jewish lobby and the neo-conservatives,” Karat said, adding, “this would be palatable to the RSS and echoes Brajesh Mishra’s notorious advocacy of a US-Israel-India axis. But the UPA government has to seriously consider where this would lead India to.”

“Thanks to Bush’s Christian rhetoric, condemnation of  ‘Islamic fascism’ and brazen support to Israel's aggression on Palestine and Lebanon, the serious problem of terrorism has got devalued,” said Karat in a write-up in party mouthpiece ‘People’s Democracy’, released here on Friday.

Charging the Bush regime with sowing “a dangerous harvest” with its global war against terrorism, he said the enthusiasm displayed by the BJP-led government for partnering the US in the war on terrorism needs to be re-examined.

Calling upon India to distance itself from the US idea of a ‘Greater Middle-East’, Karat said Israel is the frontline state in the US global strategy to reorder the oil-rich Middle-East.

Karat said the argument that Israel is indispensable for our defence needs is specious. Apart from the traditional supplier of weaponry, Russia, there are a host of countries who would be prepared to meet India’s needs for sophisticated equipment whether, for instance France, Sweden, Germany and Italy. There is also the harm done by the corrupt nexus that Israeli arms companies have fostered as seen in the Barak anti-missile deal, he said.

It was shortsighted on the part of the UPA government to have sought the help of pro-Israeli, neo-conservative and Jewish lobbies in the US to canvass support in the US Congress for the Indo-US nuclear deal. Such a stance encourages Washington and Tel Aviv to coordinate their India policies further, said Karat.