Communist Arithmetic 123=126
Left warns against aircraft deal, Americanisation of indian military.
By TNN |
NEW DELHI: THE CPM, which alleged a link between the 123 agreement and the 126 multi-role combat aircraft, said the new engagement with Washington was leading to the “Americanisation of the Indian military”. The party said the US had already managed to leverage several valuable defence contracts and position itself well in respect of future orders.
Fresh from its campaign against the joint naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal and the Indo-US nuclear deal, the CPM has castigated India’s defence deals saying that New Delhi was shifting its acquisitions towards US and Israel under pressure from the US and for the sake of a junior role in the US strategic theatre.
“In the process, India is running the dire risk of not only getting dragged into the US strategic orbit and losing its sovereignty but also of dangerously putting all its military acquisition eggs into the US-Israeli basket to the severe detriment of its own long-term defence interests and self-reliant capability,” the CPM said in an article in the party mouthpiece ‘People’s Democracy’.
The Left has more reason to be angry — Russia, India’s old military hardware supplier is “upset”. “India had almost finalised a long-delayed $600 million contract with the European consortium Eurocopter for supply of 197 light helicopters, but the entire acquisition appears to have been suddenly put on hold due to US pressure in favour of the US manufacturer Bell,” the CPM said. The party also sees the purchase of US-made Hercules C-130 J military transport aircraft as a shift from the traditional Russian-origin transport fleet used by Indian defence forces.
Listing out Indian acquisitions from the USS Trenton to what is in the pipeline, the CPM said it was an integral part of the growing military synergy between India and the US especially in the light of possible joint operations. “After decades, the US defence firms are drooling at the prospect of multi-billion dollar contracts in the lucrative Indian defence market which has suddenly opened up for them. And this at a time when the US military-industrial complex is concerned at a projected slowdown in US defence acquisitions,” it said.
The CPM, which has given an ultimatum to the government not to go ahead with the deal in its present form, is of the view that the “carrot of advanced military technologies and know-how was being dangled by the US only to entice India while actually holding back in order to obtain greater concessions in kowtowing to US diktats on a range of issues.”
Cautioning the government, the CPM said the US was playing its cards carefully and was offering military hardware selectively and in careful doses. It said that the US was holding back cutting-edge technologies and weapons systems until India “firmly and unequivocally commits itself to the US strategic embrace”.
It said the US had not cleared sales of Raytheon’s Patriot anti-missile systems or even the sale of advanced US-Israeli Arrow Missile defence systems and was only offering the limited P3-C Orions rather than the more advanced force-multiplier E2 Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft which can also link up with satellite-based systems to guide attack aircraft with precision besides monitoring and tracking targets.
The CPM said that with India putting out its global tender for 126 multi-role combat aircraft in an order expected to be worth $10 billion, the focus will be on whether the final contracts go to one of the two competing American firms. “It is well known that extraordinary pressure is being applied on India to favour these US suppliers if India in turn wants favourable treatment by the US on a variety of strategic issues, especially including the nuclear deal. As the grapevine in the US has it, 123=126,” the party said.
Fresh from its campaign against the joint naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal and the Indo-US nuclear deal, the CPM has castigated India’s defence deals saying that New Delhi was shifting its acquisitions towards US and Israel under pressure from the US and for the sake of a junior role in the US strategic theatre.
“In the process, India is running the dire risk of not only getting dragged into the US strategic orbit and losing its sovereignty but also of dangerously putting all its military acquisition eggs into the US-Israeli basket to the severe detriment of its own long-term defence interests and self-reliant capability,” the CPM said in an article in the party mouthpiece ‘People’s Democracy’.
The Left has more reason to be angry — Russia, India’s old military hardware supplier is “upset”. “India had almost finalised a long-delayed $600 million contract with the European consortium Eurocopter for supply of 197 light helicopters, but the entire acquisition appears to have been suddenly put on hold due to US pressure in favour of the US manufacturer Bell,” the CPM said. The party also sees the purchase of US-made Hercules C-130 J military transport aircraft as a shift from the traditional Russian-origin transport fleet used by Indian defence forces.
Listing out Indian acquisitions from the USS Trenton to what is in the pipeline, the CPM said it was an integral part of the growing military synergy between India and the US especially in the light of possible joint operations. “After decades, the US defence firms are drooling at the prospect of multi-billion dollar contracts in the lucrative Indian defence market which has suddenly opened up for them. And this at a time when the US military-industrial complex is concerned at a projected slowdown in US defence acquisitions,” it said.
The CPM, which has given an ultimatum to the government not to go ahead with the deal in its present form, is of the view that the “carrot of advanced military technologies and know-how was being dangled by the US only to entice India while actually holding back in order to obtain greater concessions in kowtowing to US diktats on a range of issues.”
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Cautioning the government, the CPM said the US was playing its cards carefully and was offering military hardware selectively and in careful doses. It said that the US was holding back cutting-edge technologies and weapons systems until India “firmly and unequivocally commits itself to the US strategic embrace”.
It said the US had not cleared sales of Raytheon’s Patriot anti-missile systems or even the sale of advanced US-Israeli Arrow Missile defence systems and was only offering the limited P3-C Orions rather than the more advanced force-multiplier E2 Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft which can also link up with satellite-based systems to guide attack aircraft with precision besides monitoring and tracking targets.
The CPM said that with India putting out its global tender for 126 multi-role combat aircraft in an order expected to be worth $10 billion, the focus will be on whether the final contracts go to one of the two competing American firms. “It is well known that extraordinary pressure is being applied on India to favour these US suppliers if India in turn wants favourable treatment by the US on a variety of strategic issues, especially including the nuclear deal. As the grapevine in the US has it, 123=126,” the party said.
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