Stepping up its protest against the Indo-US nuclear deal, Communist Party of India-Marxist on Tuesday night said the deal was 'totally unacceptable to it' and asked the Dr Manmohan Singh [Images] government not to proceed ahead with the deal.

Charging the United Progressive Alliance government of going against the Common Minimum Programme, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat told a public meeting that the CMP did not contain a single word for a "strategic alliance with the United States."

"If there was such a word, we would not have supported the government at all," he said.

"This government is a minority government. It exists only with the support of parties like us. So it should not go ahead with the agreement," he said.

The Left parties will go to the people and tell them that the UPA government has failed to fulfill its commitment to the CMP, he said.

The Dr Singh government could have decided a timeframe with the US government to implement the deal, he said.

Karat said India should not go to the Interantaional Atomic Energy Agency to finalise the deal, but wait for the proposed committee's decision.

The government should not go ahead with the deal until Parliament discussed the implications of the Hyde Act, he said.

Karat said India's foreign policy has been governed by consensus and non-alignment for the last 50 years.

"But if the nuclear deal is through, it will break 60 years of our foreign policy. We are not against the people of America or against America as a country. We are against the imperialistic America and the most hated Bush adminstration," he said.

Karat said the nuclear deal, which will be in force for 40 years, would make India to depend on the US perpetually for its nuclear needs.

Opposing the multi-nation joint naval exercises in the Bay of Bengal, Karat said of the 13 US naval ships participating in the exercise, one ship -- USS Nimitz -- the US nuclear ship, bombarded the people of Iraq, which had close relationship with India.

He said the joint exercise was part of defence pact with the US and questioned the necessity of such an agreement.

He said India recently celebrated the 60th anniversary of its Independence and had been following an independent and non-alligned foreign policy.

"But now we have become an strategic ally of US. The military exercise was pointing towards this," he said.

The country has supported many independent struggles, but there seems a sudden change on that now, he said.

He said the joint military exercise integrated the country's air force and navy with the US forces. India has signed a defence pact only with US and not with other countries.