Left Pressurised UPA Govt. to Issue 1000 Visas for Chineese Engineers When Indian Engineers In India Are Jobless

B Raman Unmasks The Ugly Face Of Communists in India

The current opposition of the leftist
parties—particularly, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)— to the
agreement (the so-called 123 agreement) with the US on civil nuclear
co-operation and to India’s developing strategic relations with the US
takes one mind back to the days before the visit of President Hu jintao
of China to India in November last year.

2. A Chinese company had won a contract for the construction of a
gas pipeline from the Godavari area in Andhra Pradesh. It wanted to
bring about 1,000 Chinese engineers to work in the project. The
Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the Intelligence Bureau of the
Government of India were not clearing the issue of visas to the Chinese
engineers.They asked a number of inconvenient questions as to why it
was necessary for the Chinese company to bring in so many of their
engineers when unemployed Indian engineers were available.

3. There was also a paper prepared by the National Security Council
Secretariat of the Prime Minister’s Office suggesting that proposals
for foreign investments in sensitive sectors such as telecommunication
services from China, Pakistan and Bangladesh should be subjected to a
special security vetting.

4. Shri Sitaram Yechury of the Communist Party of India (Marxist),
allegedly at the instance of the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi, raised a
big hue and cry about it and literally forced the Government of India
to order the issue of visas to the Chinese engineers and to drop the
proposal for a special security vetting for Chinese investment
proposals in sensitive sectors.

5. After the visit of Mr.Hu was over, the “Times Now” news channel
had invited me to participate in a discussion on the visit. Shri Arnab
Goswami of the Channel anchored the discussions. Shri D. Raja, the
member of the Rajya Sabha from the CPI, participated in the discussions
from Delhi.I told Shri Raja: ” It is surprising that you pressurised
the Government to issue visas to 1000 Chinese engineers. You were not
bothered about Indian engineers not getting these jobs. If a US company
had wanted to bring 1000 American engineers, would you have urged the
Government to issue visas to them?”

6. Shri Raja told me: ” Mr.Raman, you are an eminent person. You should not mislead people by raising such scenarios”.

7. For the last two months, the Chinese authorities have been
expressing their concern over reports that India has joined hands with
the US, Japan and Australia to counter the growing Chinese naval power
in the region and that the forthcoming naval exercise in the Bay of
Bengal involving the navies of these countries plus Singapore is the
beginning of this project to counter the Chinese naval power and
presence in the Bay of Bengal/ Indian Ocean region.

8. It is not without significance that the vigorous campaign of the
leftist parties—-particularly of the CPI (Marxist)— against the
recently concluded Indo-US agreement on civil nuclear co-operation and
against the growing strategic interactions between India and US in
particular has coincided with the beginning of the Chinese campaign
against the so-called quadrilateral strategic interaction involving
India, Japan, the US and Australia and the naval exercise with the
additional involvement of the Singapore Navy.

9. The leftists’ campaign against India’s relations with the US
reflects more China’s concerns and interests than those of India. I
have never been exited over the Indo-US agreement on civil nuclear
co-operation. Nor do I share the Prime Minister, Dr.Manmohan Singh’s
enthusiasm for US President, Mr.George Bush, and the Indo-US agreement.
I am inclined to feel that what we are seeing now is a one-night stand
between Dr. Manmohan Singh and Mr.Bush. Like most one-night stands, the
happy thoughts thereafter will become an embarrassment in course of
time.

10. I also feel—-as I have stated on many occasions in the past—
that we should go slow on the development of our strategic relations
with the US, keeping in view the fact that we live right in the midst
of the Islamic world, and that about 45 per cent of the world’s Muslim
population live in the South Asian region. Ours is still a fragile
society and we should not create misgivings in the Muslim community by
overlooking their sensitivities on this subject.

11. Having said that, I also feel that we should not let the
leftists dictate our foreign policy and push it in a direction
favourable to China. I find it difficult to discount the suspicion that
the leftists have mounted their present campaign to promote Chinese and
not Indian interests.

12. After joining the IB in 1967, I went on a visit to Kolkata.
Those were the days of the Cultural Revolution in China. The Marxists
were not yet in power in West Bengal, but were very active. As I was
travelling in a taxi from the Dum Dum airport to downtown, I saw the
following slogan painted by the Marxists on the walls everywhere:
“China’s Chairman is our Chairman.”

13. The present day Indian Marxists don’t say this, but they do
believe that “China’s Interest is Our Interest.” It is this belief,
which is behind their present campaign against the Government of India.
Their hidden motive should be exposed.

(The writer, Mr.B.Raman, is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet
Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director,
Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. He is also associated with the
Chennai Centre For China Studies E-Mail: [email protected] )