Left Firm On House Address Boycott
The US President has succeeded where Mrs Sonia Gandhi, the fall of the Vajpayee Government and the parliamentary elections have failed. Mr Bill Clinton's forthcoming visit prompted the four main Left parties today to announce that notwithstanding the ban imposed on rallies, they would hold their protest march on March 21 in Delhi and would boycott his address to Members of Parliament the following day.
With approximately 70-odd members in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha, about one-tenth of the total members would be staying away when Mr Clinton stands up to address the members.
Although smaller Left formations like the Forward Bloc and the RSP set the agenda by publicly announcing a boycott, at a joint Press conference of the four left parties, CPI-M general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet at first counterposed by asking "Could you imagine us attending it?" Polit Bureau member Prakash Karat maintained that the party's MPs would be "busy" in organising the compaign against US imperialism.
CPI's D Raja emphasised that the CPI and the other Left parties do not attach any significance to the speech Mr Clinton is slated to make at Parliament's Central Hall.
But while interacting with newspersons both Debarata Biswas (Forward Bloc) and Abani Roy (RSP) were emphatic that the Left was boycotting the address. The CPI-ML (Liberation) had also announced at the very outset that its two members would boycott the address.
At the Press Conference, Messers. Surjeet, Biswas, Roy and Raja also released copies of their letter to Union Home Minister L K Advani to protest against the blanket ban imposed on demonstrations in the Capital and demanded the permission be given for the protest rally on March 21.
"If the government fails to adopt a democratic attitude in this matter, the committee formed in Delhi will go ahead with the planned demonstration to express the views of the Indian people on the hostile attitude of the American government they declared.
Expressing "shock" that the Delhi Police authorities had refused permission for the demonstration, the four Left leaders queried whether India was following in the footsteps of Pakistan where the government had announced a ban on all political meetings and rallies. In their letter, they drew the Home Minister's attention to the fact that the US sanctions on India, curbs on technology, interference in the Kashmir issue and attempts to pries open markets in favour of US multinationals have been a cause for widespread concern in the country.
The said it was normal is a democratic country for political parties to organise peaceful protest actions against the policies of a country whose head of state comes on an official visit.