Left MPs boycott address

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, MARCH, 22. Even as the U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, was addressing a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament this morning, activists from various Left parties held demonstrations, under the banner of Platform Against US Imperialism, to protest against his visit here.

The MPs from the Left parties had boycotted Mr.Clinton's address.

The demonstrators protested against ``imposition of US hegemony and abject surrender of Indian rulers to the American designs''.

Addressing the participants of the `March to Parliament' organised by the Communist Party of India (Marxist- Leninist) (Liberation), Mr. Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretary of the party, launched a scathing attack on ``Vision 2000'' document signed by the two Heads of State here yesterday.

``This is basically an American vision imposed on India. Mr. Clinton has provided the spectacles and the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, is looking through it. One may call it saffron vision seen through borrowed American glasses,'' he said.

Mr. Bhattacharya said it exposed the bankruptcy of Indian rulers that sought to fit Indian into a strategically subservient role in the American vision of a US-led unipolar world.

It would naturally pave the way for India's further isolation from Third World countries, he said.

The Delhi Committee of the CPI (M-L) Red Flag also joined the march and courted arrest. Mr. Rajeev, secretary of the organisation, called for continuation of the struggle against imperialism and its `neo-colonial plunder'. He said Mr. Clinton was here to establish the neo-colonial hegemony over India with his designs of CTBT.

The CPI (ML) New Proletarian viewed Mr. Clinton's visit as an effort to promote the interest of the multinational corporations, the World Bank, and the World Trade Organisation.

It said the economic agreements reached between the two leaders were in direct contravention with the Indian policy of the self reliance and non-alignment.

The party described Mr. Vajpayee's request to Mr. Clinton to ask the Pakistani Chief, General Pervez Musharraf, to stop cross- border terrorism, as the third party intervention in a bilateral issue.

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