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Left campaigns against multi-nation naval exercise
Left campaigns against multi-nation naval exercise
Tuesday, September 4, 2007 | AY
Kolkata, Sept. 4 (ANI): The Left parties today launched a massive protest against the joint naval exercise “Malabar”, involving India, the US, Japan, Australia and Singapore that began in the Bay of Bengal this morning.The rally was flagged off by veteran leader of the Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M) Jyoti Basu from Kolkata, and will be led by CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan.Basu said the Congress Party-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government was showing a marked leaning towards the United States, signifying a threat to India's sovereignty."They (UPA) are showing inclination towards America, which was not part of the Common Minimum Programme (CMP). The CMP talks about independent foreign policy. I hope the success of this procession," said Basu.Another rally from Chennai, along with the one from Kolkata will converge in Visakhapatnam on September 8.The Left alleges that the nuclear pact between the two countries is part of America's vision to make India a subservient partner.The Left views the exercise as a manifestation of India's growing strategic alliance with the US.There were suggestions from the political quarters within the ruling UPA to suspend the mammoth naval exercise in view of Left’s growing ire against the Congress-led Government over the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal. The naval exercise was planned a year ahead and it was finalised after three stages of preparations that included discussions on availability of logistics and ships.The exercise in which one can see flotilla 26 warships, including aircraft carriers, missile frigates and destroyer, will end on September 9. Left parties also held similar protests during a port call by USS Nimitz to Chennai in July, saying it would compromise India's sovereignty. (ANI)
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