As India is moving towards the election of a new government at the Centre, at the 9th round of US-India Strategic Security Dialogue in Washington on May 13, the Modi regime in violation of established precedents has once again succumbed to Trump’s pressure for establishing 6 US nuclear power plants in India.
The Modi regime has already yielded to the US diktat by agreeing to a review its import of cheap oil from Venezuela in continuation of agreeing in principle to the Yanki demand to cut oil import from Iran. As of now, India is the second largest buyer of crude oil from Venezuela, and the new US challenge that follows in the aftermath of US trade sanctions for not providing “equitable and reasonable access to the markets of India” is going to aggravate the worst economic downturn and inflation that the country is confronting under the Modi regime. Trump administration that has already prepared a blueprint for regime change in Venezuela is planning an economic embargo over it and its diktat to Modi regime to stop oil import from that country should be seen as part of this agenda. Following this, while directives have been issued to public sector oil refineries, Reliance, India’s largest refiner is reportedly in close coordination with US State Department to ensure full compliance.
It is in this context that US imperialism has strengthened its pressure on Modi to accept its supply of 6 nuclear reactors as an alternate source of energy. The American lackeys in Modi regime who have taken part in the Strategic Security Dialogue is reported to have agreed to the US ‘offer’ in view of US support of India’s membership in Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Details on all issues including liability rules especially relating to who should shoulder the costs and responsibility of an accident are not yet known.
Ironically, to overcome the US isolation in relation to the Paris Climate Agreement, American think-tanks and ruling establishment have once again started proposing “carbon-free” nuclear energy as a “catch-all solution” to climate change and the Indian technocrats are also echoing the same despite the extreme mistrust on nuclear plants prevailing India among all concerned, especially with regard to nuclear accidents, waste disposal and high expenses. Therefore, it is high time on the part of all sections to come out strongly resisting and defeating this anti-national move by Modi regime, that too at the fag-end of its rule.
