The Left parties led by CPI and CPI (M) raised their anti-US rhetoric and attacked the UPA Government for tilting towards the US, as the multination mammoth naval exercise Malabar began in the Bay of Bengal on Tuesday.
Chennai/Kolkata, Sept 4 : The Left parties led by CPI and CPI (M) raised their anti-US rhetoric and attacked the UPA Government for 'tilting' towards the US, as the multination mammoth naval exercise 'Malabar' began in the Bay of Bengal on Tuesday.
CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat, known for his tough anti-US stance, reiterated that the UPA Government should not begin negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for operationalising the Indo-US nuclear deal, and attacked the Government for getting close to the US, a country "responsible for the killing of people in Iraq," at a rally in Chennai.
Karat is leading a 'jatha' (a group of protestors) against the naval exercise where the US ships are participating in big ways, including two of its aircraft carriers USS Nimitiz and USS Kitty Hawk.
In Kolkata, veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu flagged off another jatha led by CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan, and attacked the Government for harming country's independent foreign policy.
"The UPA government is trying to turn the country into the American fold which is against the Common Minimum Programme on the basis of which the Left is extending support to the Centre," Basu said.
Basu who has been not so vocal against the nuclear deal today warned Government of dire consequences if it goes ahead with operationalising the deal.
The jathas led by Bardhan and Karat will move along the east coast of the country before meeting at Vishakhapatnam.
ANI