The editorial says that if the Left is serious about opposing the nuclear deal and US hegemony, it has no option but to withdraw support to the UPA government. “Now it does not even have the fig leaf of the prime minister’s confusing and misleading statement in Parliament on August 13, to postpone the painful decision. The PM’s idea was largely intended to cajole the Left. But within 24 hours of the prime minister’s statement the US State Department has made a clarification, which in a way snubbed and called the Manmohan bluff. For the Indian audience it came as a reality check.”

And Parliament?

Another article in the RSS mouthpiece raises the issue of parliamentary approval for international treaties. “Over the years our people have come to believe that the Constitution of India, 1950, is their protector and saviour. And Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, known as its father, is venerated by all. These very people of ours could be rudely shocked when told that if their prime minister gives away Arunachal Pradesh to China tomorrow in an agreement signed under the orders of his Indo-Italian boss, there is absolutely nothing in the Constitution to stop that act of treason. The Constituent Assembly simply forgot to lay down that an international agreement which the central executive wished to sign on behalf of the people of India must necessarily be first approved by the Parliament which represents them.”

That is why, it says, the UPA government is going ahead on the 123 agreement with the US. “The UPA’s defence is diabolically simple. Article 253 of our Constitution empowers

... contd.