Don't ally with US, says CPI-M

The CPI-M Monday said India was being drawn into "a close military collaboration" with the US and warned this would affect the country's strategic autonomy.

Commenting on a joint declaration on defence cooperation issued after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's talks with President Barack Obama, it said India and the US were planning to deepen their military cooperation.

This would "include buying more US weapons and joint production", the Communist Party of India-Marxist said.

"This will open the way for American arms companies to set up joint ventures in India. The clear intention is to make India a close ally of the US.

"The CPI-M is against India being drawn into such a close military

collaboration with the US.

"It will adversely affect our national sovereignty, carrying out an independent foreign policy and our strategic autonomy."

A CPI-M statement also criticised the Uttar Pradesh government for not intervening in time to prevent and control the Muzaffarnagar riots which left some 50 people dead.

"This communal violence has come in the background of the systematic efforts to raise communal tensions and provoke violence by RSS outfits.

"The Uttar Pradesh administration was not vigilant and did not intervene promptly to prevent the situation from developing into such a conflict."

The party demanded that the Prevention of Communal Violence Bill should be taken up expeditiously and adopted by parliament.