Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of deflecting from the Non-Alignment Movement (NAM) and making India a junior war partner of the United States (U.S.).
Inaugurating a national conference of All Indian Peace and Solidarity Organisation (AIPSO) here on Friday, Mr. Vijayan said the U.S. had formed an axis against Russia and China and if it went for a war, India too might be compelled to join it.
Right from the days of freedom struggle, India had adopted an anti-imperialist stance, which was nurtured by Jawaharlal Nehru, and the nation had objected to U.S. intervention in Vietnam. Now, there was a marked change in the foreign policy and the drift towards the U.S. was quite obvious. The Prime Minister did not attend the NAM meeting in Venezuela and also refrained from the last rites of Fidel Castro.
The pro-U.S. tilt in the foreign policy became evident since the neo-liberal economic policy was adopted by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and that was being rigorously pursued by the present government too, he said.
All major arms manufacturers were based in the U.S. and they were liberally funding both the Republicans and the Democrats.
Communist Party of India (CPI) State unit secretary Kanam Rajendran, in his opening remarks, cited the ills of the neo-liberal policy being pursued by the Centre and said that it was leading to mounting inequality and deprivation in the country.
Mr. Vijayan also released a book, Jeevithavum Anubhavangalaum , based on the interaction between CPI(M) Polit Bureau member M.A. Baby with Philipose Mar Chrysostom by handing over copies to Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] general secretary Sitaram Yechury.
V.B. Binu, AIPSO State general secretary, welcomed the gathering. D. Raja, MP, and other dignitaries were present.
