As the protests against the Anglo-American war on Iraq mount in our country, and the vast majority of the Indian people have expressed in various ways their condemnation for the war and support for the Iraqi people, the Government of India has announced that it will take the "middle path", which is actually a stand in support of the war-mongers. The Government of India has neither organised a discussion on the war in parliament, nor has a resolution been placed in parliament by the government stating India’s position. According to news reports, the US is pleased with the Government of India’s response.
According to government spokespersons, India was not going to take any initiative either through the Non-Aligned Movement or otherwise, which would jeopardise India’s cosy relationship with the US. This was stated by foreign ministry sources to the visiting Iranian leader Ali Akbar Velayati, who is the special envoy of the Iranian President Mohammed Khatami. The spokesperson of the government is reported to have remarked that there is no need to antagonise the US by naming it or talking about "aggression".
Prime Minister Vajpayee’s statement to the all-party meeting on Iraq reveals the Government of India’s reactionary and pro-imperialist international line. According to newspaper reports, Vajpayee said "Our relations with the United States and Britain and others involved in the crisis are strong, with many dimensions, and expanding…". According to him, India’s relationship with other countries could not be "defined by a single issue". In other words, his government was unwilling to support the just struggle of the Iraqi people as well as the peace-loving people of the whole world against the Anglo-American war of aggression on Iraq, because it wants to cosy up even closer to the US imperialists.
Further on, Vajpayee made it clear that the Indian ruling class is not in disagreement with the US on any matter of principle. On the contrary, the Indian ruling class wishes to use the "war against terrorism" to advance its own imperialist interests, and would like to co-ordinate with the Anglo-American imperialists on this, especially against Pakistan. "…We should be careful that neither our internal debate nor our external actions deflect our attention, or that of the world, away from the real source of terrorism in our neighbourhood…The nexus between international terrorism, fundamentalism and weapons of mass destruction is now being strengthened. The remnants of Al-Qaeda and the Taliban are being given refuge. There is real threat of rogue nuclear activity and WMD terrorism. Action against Iraq should not dilute our focus…" The Prime Minister’s language and reasoning is no different from those of Bush and Blair.
The focus of the Indian and world’s peoples is to bring the Anglo-American imperialist war of aggression against Iraq to an immediate halt, and to ensure punishment for the aggressors. The peoples of the world, are demanding the immediate convening of the Security Council and the General Assembly of the UN for this purpose. However, the reactionary Indian ruling class has a different focus, as articulated by Prime Minister Vajpayee. And this is how to further strengthen the coalition of imperialist forces headed by US imperialism and direct it against Pakistan! In other words, the Indian ruling class is one with the US in its plans for the conquest of Asia and the whole world, under the signboard of "war against terrorism", demanding only a share of the cake from the plunder and ruin of peoples. Far from taking a principled stand in defence of the freedom and sovereignty of Iraq, the Indian ruling class is acting like a vulture eager to join the Anglo-American imperialists in the plunder of Iraq they are planning in the name of "reconstruction".
The so-called "middle path" pursued by the Indian ruling class today constitutes outright collaboration with the imperialist war-mongers and treachery to the peoples, who are fighting in defence of peace and freedom, and the independence and sovereignty of the peoples and countries, and the right of each people to determine their own economic and political system free from outside interference. Ever since it came to power in 1947, this ruling class has pursued a pragmatic unprincipled course in international relations, siding with one or the other imperialist superpower during the Cold War period, and with the US in the period since the end of the Cold War. From the Soviet social-imperialist aggression against Czechoslovakia and Afghanistan to the numerous US aggressions against the peoples of Asia, Africa and Latin America, including the US aggression against Afghanistan, this ruling class has taken care to feather its own nest, advance its own imperialist ambitions, but never taken a consistent internationalist stand in defence of the principles of freedom and sovereignty of the peoples and nations from imperialist aggression. Once again, at a time when as never before, the peoples of the world have risen up in determined opposition to the war against Iraq, the Indian ruling class has made it plain it stands on the side of the war-mongers, on the side of retrogression.
This treacherous, pro-imperialist, pro-war course of the "middle path" being pursued by the Vajpayee government needs to be thoroughly exposed and condemned. This is a course that is bringing national shame on our people, amongst the comity of nations, and the peace loving peoples of the whole world. The Indian people must demand that parliament should immediately and unequivocally condemn the US aggression on Iraq. The Indian people must force the Indian government to immediately take a stand in the UN Security Council and General Assembly to punish the Anglo-American imperialists for aggressing upon Iraq. This is the only course of honour for the Indian people.
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