The Communist Party of India on Sunday demanded a constitutional amendment to ensure that any international agreement or treaty comes into effect and is binding on the country only after it is discussed and ratified by Parliament.
On the concluding day of its three-day meeting, the CPI national council lashed out at the United Progressive Alliance government for 'the drift from Common Minimum Program on the foreign policy'.
A resolution adopted at the meeting said, 'It appears that (the) UPA government is continuing the policy of the previous National Democratic Alliance government of forging strategic relations with the USA and gradually distancing itself from the Non-Aligned Movement and the developing countries, which are our natural allies'.
Emphasising that the defence agreement and the nuclear deal with the USA would have serious implications for India's independent foreign policy and lead to a situation where it would start impacting the country's sovereignty, the resolution demanded that Indo-US nuclear deal should be discussed thoroughly in Parliament before proceeding any further.
"It was amazing that whatever Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told us in Parliament twice about the so-called reciprocity that is there in the Indo-US nuclear deal was not borne out by the facts of the entire tortuous process that is going on before the American Congress," CPI general secretary A B Bardhan told newsmen.
"The national council has decided that its Parliamentary group will raise the demand in both Houses of Parliament that international agreements and treaties should be discussed in the Parliament first and they can become effective after being ratified by Parliament," he added.
Commenting on the two years of UPA rule in the country, Bardhan said that its performance was a mixed bag in which not everything was bad or wrong.
The national council sent a clear signal that despite its unhappiness with the UPA on several issues specially on the economic and foreign policies, it has no intention of disrupting the Dr Singh's applecart and was ready to give it more time.
Bardhan defended the Left's role of simultaneous support and opposition to the Congress-led coalition. "This is the dynamic of the situation. This is a reality that is there that you support generally and also oppose in particular," he said.
Asked how long the support would continue, he quipped, "It has been only two years and I told you in the two years, not everything was bad and wrong".
While appreciating the UPA government for its positive work such as the passage of Right to Information and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and the law against domestic violence against women and on inheritance rights to women in Hindu co-parcenary property, CPI also had some words of severe criticism and caution on other issues.
"The UPA government has to function as a welfare state. It must undertake all social welfare measures and must provide for them in the budget," he said.
