Govt succumbing to US pressure to further open India's economy: Left parties

The Left parties accused the Centre on Thursday of succumbing to the pressure exerted by the US government to further open India's economy, stating that they were opposed to the "US agenda".

In a joint statement, the Left parties said the stated purpose of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to India was to push the country to further open its economy, drop the trade barriers and sell US defence equipment to India.

"This visit comes in the immediate aftermath of the US' termination of India's designation as a beneficiary under the Generalised System of Preference trade programme, which allows duty-free entry for Indian products into the US and the threat to impose sanctions if India continues to purchase oil from countries like Iran and Venezuela," the statement said.

Pompeo has announced his two-day visit to India on June 25-26.

The Left parties further said the US administration was threatening countries across the world with new sanctions if they failed to heed to its diktats. They alleged that the US was trying to strangulate Cuba, Venezuela, Iran and Nicaragua with such sanctions in order to ensure a regime change in those countries.

"The ongoing trade war is threatening the already reeling global economy into another recession. It is coercing India to submit to its policies and stop purchase of oil from Iran and Venezuela and S-400 missile systems from Russia.

"The BJP-led NDA government, instead of resisting the arm-twisting of the US, is succumbing to its pressure. Any capitulation to the US, at the cost of our sovereignty and self-respect, is unacceptable," the statement said.

Urging the people of the country to oppose the BJP government's "surrender" of Indian interests before the US, the Left parties demanded the government to pursue an independent policy that zealously secured national interests.

The statement was jointly issued by the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)-Liberation, the All India Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party.