On July 8, 2008, a widely attended symposium was organised in the Constitution Club, New Delhi on the theme “Indo-US Nuclear deal and National Interest". The symposium was jointly organised by the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushwarat, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Markazi Jamait Ulama-e-Hind, Indian National League, Idara Fikro Amal and Afkar-e-Milli.

Dr SQR Ilyas of the All India Personal Law Board conducted the proceedings. Dr Zafar ul Islam of the AIMM presided over the meeting. Others in the Presidium included Mr. Sulaiman, President of the Indian National League, journalist Seema Mustafa, Probir of the Committee for Independent Foreign Policy, former finance secretary SP Shukla, and dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar.

Those who addressed the symposium, apart from the above, included Feroze Mithiborewala, Convenor of Apna Bharat from Mumbai, Prakash Rao, spokesperson of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, Mujtaba Farooq, leader of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Gopal Rai of the Teesri Swadhinta Sangram, Tej Singh, leader of Ambedkar Samaj Party, Dr Taslim Rehmani, President Muslim Political Council of India, Kamal Farooq of the All India Minorities Commission, and the leader of the Samata Party Minorities Cell.

In his opening remarks, Dr Ilyas pointed out that great pressure is being applied on people of the Muslim faith not to speak out against the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.  An attempt is being made to paint the opposition to the deal in communal colours, as if only Muslims are opposed to it and that too due to some pathological hatred for America. He pointed out that the organisers of the Symposium do not claim to represent all Muslim masses of our country. We have organised this symposium because we, as Hindustanis, feel it is against the national interest of Hindustan — he pointed out.

Between them, the different speakers in the symposium covered different aspects of the debate on the Indo US Nuclear deal, including its political fall out in India. Speakers asked why, when the Indo US alliance is against the interests of the majority of Indians, is the ruling clique hell bent on going ahead with it. They pointed out that India was faced with burning problems — mass poverty, massive increase in prices, etc. Yet the Prime Minister was desperate to operationalise the nuclear deal, callous to addressing the problems facing society. All the speakers agreed that the heart of the matter is that a strategic alliance is being forged between India and US, at the behest of the US. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his party are rushing headlong into the deal, because it benefits a small but definite section of Indians — that section which thinks it will benefit from an alliance with the US imperialists.

Speakers pointed out that while BJP has publicly stated that it is in favour of a strategic alliance with the US, the Congress, which too is in favour of such an alliance, wants to make out that energy and other issues are dictating its desire for the deal. Speakers debunked, with facts and figures, that far from ensuring energy security, India is going to get more deeply caught in the clutches of the imperialists on the energy front. As in the past, US imperialism could at any time stop supply of nuclear fuel to India’s nuclear plants, which would be imported plants based on precisely this imported fuel. They pointed out that the successive central governments had shown no concern for developing alternative energy sources, including thermal, nuclear, solar, etc on the basis of self reliance.

Speakers pointed out that by signing a protocol with the IAEA, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is ensuring that India’s nuclear weapons program is effectively capped. In effect, India is going against its own earlier reason for not signing the non proliferation treaty — that it does not agree to a discriminatory situation wherein five powers can stockpile nuclear weapons and threaten other countries, while other countries are left at their mercy. By signing the protocol with IAEA, India will not only go against its national interest, but also against the interest of other peoples and nations.  

Speakers pointed out that the Indo-US strategic alliance is directed against the Indian people, as well as other peoples of Asia and the world.

Dr Zafar ul Islam gave an incisive summing up of the deliberations. He declared that the Indo-US nuclear deal was not good for India. Capitalist forces world over and in India were pushing this deal. Those leading our country were imbued with the mentality of World Bank, IMF and other imperialist agencies and it was to be expected that they would pursue US prescriptions on all counts, including economic policy as well as strategic alliances. These people leading our country claim to be experts on economic policy, and what they have caused is a situation wherein life has become extremely difficult for the ordinary people. Now they are tying up foreign policy to US strategy. He declared, this is not an issue only for Muslims of India. It is an issue for us because we are Hindustanis, and the strategic alliance is a disaster for all Indians. Drawing from the rich experience of our anti-colonial struggle, we will oppose this deal in such a manner, that we Indian people will successfully block it in practice.

The meeting ended with the call to vigorously oppose the nuclear deal and the strategic alliance and mobilise the masses of Indian people against it.