The Left parties on Saturday called for a nation-wide protest on January 24 against U. S. President Barack Obama’s Republic Day visit for pressurising India to change its policies to suit American interests.
The decision to organise a protest day on January 24 was taken after a discussion between the leaders of the four Left parties which have a long-standing alliance along with the Communist Party of India (Marxist-
Leninist) and the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI). This is also part of the ongoing effort to bring about broader left unity at a time when the Left has been weakened electorally.
In a joint statement, the CPI (Marxist), CPI, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Forward Bloc, CPI(M-L) and SUCI said ``it is a supreme irony that the day which symbolises India’s independence and sovereignty is being graced by the head of a country which has done the most to assault and destroy the sovereignty of many countries around the world’’.
On domestic policy, the specifics on which the Left parties are planning the protest action include the U.S. efforts to pressurise India to change its foreign policy orientation vis-à-vis Palestine, Israel and Iran; open up
the financial sector to American capital; weaken the patents regime to benefit U.S. companies; give up the national food security programme by undermining public procurement and the public distribution system; dilute labour and environment laws besides the civil nuclear liability law.
