Cpm Flays Jaswants Call For Better Indo-Us Ties

THE CPI-M today sharply attacked External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh's statements calling for a deepening of the Indo-US strategic dialogue and political cooperation and charged the pro-imperialist stance it reflected would jeopardise the country's independence.

In a statement, party general secretary Harkishan Singh Surjeet urged the people to beware of the imperialist designs and firmly stand by the policy of non-alignment that helped the Third World countries to preserve their independent position in world affairs.Coming on the eve of US President Bill Clinton's visit, the Minister's statement only highlights the extent to which the BJP is prepared to go to submit to the dictates of US imperialism, Mr Surjeet said.

 

Taking strong objection at Mr Singh's audacity to slander the non-aligned policy, Mr Surjeet charged that the Minister was "clearly unaware" of the positive change that came in India's foreign policy after the Bandung Conference, where the five principles of peaceful co-existence or Panchsheel were enunciated or the important role India had played in initiating and heading the Non-Aligned Movement, which resisted US imperialism.

According to him, the BJP's denigration of the important role India played in the world arena after independence was understandable since its mentor, the RSS, had kept aloof from the national liberation struggle and was unable to appreciate the value of India's hard-won independence.