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.
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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’’.
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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.