Agencies Posted online: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 at 1840 hours IST Updated: Tuesday, August 21, 2007 at 1849 hours IST
Mudigonda, AP, August 21: In a stern warning to the UPA government against implementing the civil nuclear deal with America, the CPM said it should decide whether it would go with the US or ‘remain firmly with the people’.
"The Manmohan Singh government has to decide within a few weeks from now whether to go with the US or remain firmly with the people of India," CPM general secretary Prakash Karat told a public meeting in Mudigonda to pay homage to victims of police firing on July 28.
Asserting that the Left parties were strongly opposed to any kind of strategic alliance with the US, he said it was a tragedy that the Central government had ‘compromised’ on the independent foreign policy stand enunciated by late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
"It was the Congress party during Nehru's days that had evolved the non-alignment policy. It is a tragedy that the same Congress government today is compromising on independent foreign policy," he said.
The Left is still awaiting the government's response to its demand not to go ahead with the 123 Agreement to operationalise the civil nuclear deal, Karat said.
"Whatever may be the response, I can assure you that the Left parties will not compromise in our struggle against American imperialism," he said.
Karat pointed out that the deal was not just about nuclear cooperation but the imposition of American will on India's independent foreign policy. He alleged the US had asked India to change its foreign policy.
"We are opposed to the growing influence of American imperialism on India," Karat said.
Citing the joint Indo-US joint naval exercises scheduled to begin off the coast of Visakhapatnam early next month as an instance of growing American influence on New Delhi, Karat said the Left parties have drawn up a programme of protests to express their opposition to the wargame.
He said he and his CPI counterpart A B Bardhan will lead protest rallies from Chennai and Kolkata that would converge in Visakhapatnam.
Karat appealed to the people to participate in the protests in large numbers.
Referring to the agrarian crisis gripping several parts of the country, he warned the Central government against pursuing ‘economic policies dictated by Washington’.
"During the past three years, the UPA government's policies are being dictated by the World Bank, IMF, WTO and Washington. We are supporting this government because we don't want communal forces like the BJP to come to power," he claimed.
Karat also cautioned the government against allowing corporate sector into agriculture.
Referring to protests by Left parties to press for the distribution of land to the poor in Andhra Pradesh, he said big business houses and corporate entities eyeing large tracts of lands were the enemies of the poor and were creating hurdles in the distribution process.
Mudigonda, AP, August 21: In a stern warning to the UPA government against implementing the civil nuclear deal with America, the CPM said it should decide whether it would go with the US or ‘remain firmly with the people’.
