India-UPA Govt-Left
Launching a nationwide campaign against the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government for its pro- American policies, the Left parties Monday accused that the UPA government was undermining India's independent foreign policy.

"The UPA is only worried about its relations with the US. This government took a shameful step when it voted against Iran in IAEA.

The country would have to surrender its foreign policy and toe American line on international affairs if it went ahead with the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal," said CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat addressing the rally in New Delhi.

"The popularity of President George W Bush in US is 20-25 per cent.

He is the President of a minority. We have a Prime Minister who is heading a minority government. A minority President and minority Prime Minister are trying to hook this country to US hegemony, the senior CPI(M) leader said.

The Left parties were not in favour of becoming a junior partner of the United States, something which will become a reality after the nuclear deal goes through, Karat said. American multinationals like Wal-Mart will flood Indian market after the nuke deal, the CPI(M) leader warned.

He also accused the government of betraying the nation by going ahead with the nuclear deal after pledging to proceed only after winning a trust vote in Parliament. The Left will leave no stone unturned in making sure the government fails to proceed with the nuke deal, he further warned.

Detailing the reasons for the withdrawal of support, Karat said the Left parties decided to pull the plug as the government was not keen on controlling the rising inflation and was focusing on only one issue - the nuke deal.

Meanwhile, CPI General Secretary, A B Bardhan in his address attacking the UPA government said, "He wondered whether India was acting under US pressure not to go ahead with the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline".

The campaign launched by four Left Parties, Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M), Communist Party of India (CPI), All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) and Rashtriya Socialist Party (RSP) to explain to the people the reasons for withdrawing support besides explaining the UPA's pro-American and anti-people policies which are resulting in price rise and other problems.