The CPI(M), while it opposed the policies of the successive Congress governments, lent support to the non-aligned foreign policy especially when national liberation movements against imperialism were advancing.

This policy came under severe attack after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Erosion of the non-aligned movement and the new policy of accepting the IMF-World Bank-Washington dictated economic policies constituted a threat to the anti-imperialist traditions on which Indian foreign policy was based. With the advent of the Vajpayee government in March 1998, a turning point was reached in foreign policy. What begun as an adjustment with the new world reality of a dominant US imperialist power, became an open and naked shift in favour of the USA.

The thirteen-month record of the BJP-led government till its defeat illustrates how the BJP-RSS combine has reversed India's well-tested positions on foreign policy.

One of the first acts of the BJP-led government was to conduct the nuclear explosions in Pokhran and declare that India is going to make nuclear weapons. In order to justify this adventurism, Vajpayee wrote a letter to US President Clinton citing China as the security threat which necessitated the nuclear tests. By this letter, the BJP was signaling to the US that it is prepared to ally with America in order to attain the growing strength of China.

Underlying this move to win American approval was the longstanding understanding of the RSS that India should join hands with the US to fight the Communist threat the world wide. According to the RSS, the only reason why this was not possible earlier, is because of the American alliance with Pakistan and its opposition to India's stand on Kashmir.

Having come to power, the BJP has systematically worked to ensure American support by arguing that India will be in the long run a reliable ally against China in Asia. This is one of the reasons why the Vajpayee government began secret talks with the US apart from the pressure of the growing international isolation suffered after the nuclear tests. The eight-month long secret diplomacy between Jaswant Singh and Strobe Talbott, the US Deputy Secretary of State is unprecedented in India's diplomatic history. A number of meetings were held outside India and America in third countries. It is in these secret talks that the new strategic partnership between the BJP-led government and the Clinton Administration was forged.

To put it briefly, India assured America of major concessions in the Indian economy, including more access for American multinational corporations and opening up of the insurance sector. Secondly, India promised to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), reversing the stand taken in 1996 when the Deve Gowda government with the unanimous approval of the Parliament refused to join the treaty as it was discriminatory to the non-nuclear weapon states.

More dangerously, India agreed to subject its `nuclear deterrent' to American supervision just as Pakistan's will be. Under US auspices, the nuclear balance between India and Pakistan would be determined. The exercise of "nuclear restraint" and the deployment of such weapons would have US approval.

While America has not fully lifted the economic sanctions against India, it agreed after the talks to resume military collaboration between the armed forces of the two countries. The main emphasis being training of Indian armed forces personnel by the Americans which can help it penetrate and influence the Indian armed forces.

These talks have led to a fundamental shift in India's foreign policy. The BJP-led government has surrendered India's sovereignty and security interests while agreeing to become part of the American global strategy. In return, the US would acknowledge India as a major regional power and allow it to keep the limited stockpile of nuclear weapons provided India sign CTBT and continues to accept India's supervision in this field. This means abandoning India's correct position of retaining our independent nuclear technological capabilities while refusing to build nuclear weapons and unleash a nuclear arms race with Pakistan.

It is because of this growing collaboration with the US that:

• The Vajpayee government refused to condemn the American missile attacks on Sudan and Afghanistan.

• It only formally deplored the US bombardment of Iraq and the continuing efforts to dismember the country.

• During the recent NATO aggression on Yugoslavia, the Vajpayee government refused to mobilise world opinion against the savage attack.

• In the United Nations, the BJP-led government has no record of opposition to the US drive for global hegemony.

Under American pressure and its anxiety to overcome international isolation after the Pokhran blasts, Vajpayee agreed to go to Lahore for Laths in February this year. The exaggerated claims of success for the Lahore bus trip Vajpayee was made in the hope of making political capital in India. Alongwith the wrong understanding that nuclear weapons provide security and peace in the subcontinent, the grounds were laid for the bungling when the Kargil intrusion took place.

The two-month long battle to recover the areas where Pakistan intruded in Kargil, has further led to the Vajpayee government's reliance on America.

From the outset, the BJP-led government appealed to the US to intervene to resolve the conflict. The opened the way for American intervention and internationalising the Kashmir issue because Pakistan had created plan the intrusion in order to focus on the Kashmir issue.

The Americans got the opportunity to play the role of a mediator between India and Pakistan in the Kargil conflict. This is the meaning of the joint statement between Clinton and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, wherein it is stated that President Clinton will take a "personal interest" in India and Pakistan conducting a dialogue on Kashmir.

The US Administration is now awaiting the formation of a new government in India. It is keen to see that the BJP continues in government as it wants the commitment to sign the CTBT implemented and also the follow-up of the understanding arrived at after Kargil conflict that talks on Kashmir between India and Pakistan will begin.

Both on the vital question of Kashmir and India's role in the world, the BJP has compromised India's national interests by its willingness to become a junior partner of the Americans. This is the path travelled from the Pokhran tests to Kargil.