Senior Congress leader A.K.
Senior Congress leader A.K. Antony, who was defence minister in the UPA government, said: “The NDA government’s decision to sign Logistics Support Agreement with the US is the beginning of the end of the independence of India’s foreign policy and strategic autonomy. It is a disastrous decision.”
The Left targeted the government for its “in principle” agreement for a Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement with the US, terming it a “dangerous and anti-national” move and demanded it “immediately retract” from signing the agreement. Accusing the government of “crossing line” with the move, which the parties said “no other government” had taken since Independence, they accused the Modi government of turning India into a “full-fledged” military ally of Washington and of “compromising” the nation’s strategic autonomy.
The Left also claimed there was “no transparency” in what the Centre does on “such critical policy matters” as Parliament is not taken into confidence, and asked why the government was “desperate” to “please” the US by taking the step “voluntarily”. The CPI(M) said: “The Centre has crossed a line which no other government has done since Independence — converting India into a full-fledged military ally of the United States.”
