Lone Dissenters

Senior CPI(M) Rajya Sabha leader E. Balanandan told Outlook that he had asked the prime minister a specific question relating to the reasons and the timing of the nuclear tests. "I asked the PM if, as was being widely reported, the threat perception had come from China. The prime minister told us that China was not the reason why the tests were carried out."

The Left leaders then asked whether the government was keen to sign the CTBT on its own terms. To this, Advani categorically stated that the government had no plans to sign the CTBT. Says Balanandan, senior politburo member: "Mr Advani denied what was being reported in the media that the government was keen to sign the CTBT at the earliest. He told us that the government was not going to sign the CTBT."

The CPI(M)-CPI leaders did not rake up the issue of international sanctions and how the government planned to combat it since Vajpayee assured them that he would make a statement about it during the budget session of Parliament. The prime minister also told the Opposition leaders at the May 14 meeting, where M.L. Khurana and Sikandar Bakht were also present, that the National Security Council would be set up soon.

According to a senior CPI(M) leader, following Vajpayee and Advani’s revelation, the Left parties have decided to "vigorously" oppose the manner in which the tests were conducted. "It is very clear now that the government did not take any of its alliance partners into confidence and was citing an external threat for its own political gain."

On May 15, after days of dithering, the CPI(M) led the voice of Left protest and said that the tests were intended to divert the people’s attention from pressing issues and "whip up an arms race" in the subcontinent, jeopardising good neigh-bourly relations. An editorial in the forthcoming issue of its party organ, People’s Democracy, says Defence Minister George Fernandes’ statements on China were "actually a build-up to making the bomb."