Govt’s silence, inaction over US-Israel attack on Iran undermine India’s foreign policy: CPM
NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) on Friday said that the Government’s silence over the US-Israel attack on Iran and inaction undermine India’s independent foreign policy, weaken the country’s long-standing anti-imperialist and non-aligned legacy.
The Polit Bureau of the party further urged the Union government to take all possible measures to ensure the safety and security of one crore Indian migrant workforce scattered across West Asia.
Through a statement issued by the Polit Bureau, the party stated that it “strongly” condemned the deplorable attitude of the Government towards the “illegal war” unleashed by the United States-Israel combine against Iran.
“Indian foreign policy’s complete capitulation to the US is reflected in the Prime Minister’s visit to Israel on the eve of the war. Modi’s infamous embrace of Netanyahu, a designated war criminal adjudged by the International Court of Justice, has removed all the appearance of neutrality and strategic autonomy of the Indian government. In the past, India has always stood for peace and sovereignty of nations. It is shameful that the present Union government has ended up failing to even condemn the targeted killing of top Iranian leadership, including Ali Khamenei,” the statement read.
The war against Iran has expanded beyond West Asia to other parts of the world, including our neighbourhood, the CPM also said.
Referring to the Iranian naval vessel IRIS Dena that sank in the Indian Ocean, by torpedoes fired from a US submarine, the Left party said.
“This shameful development has been further laid bare by Sri Lanka taking the responsibility of providing safe berthing to IRIS Bushehr, a second Iranian ship, in Trincomalee, after rescuing all its 208 crew members. With Sri Lanka’s humanitarian response as per international maritime laws, India’s squandering of its status as the leading nation in South Asia, has come into sharp focus.”
The vessel was returning from a joint naval exercise in Visakhapatnam.
The Polit Bureau further said that the closure of the Strait of Hormuz for oil and gas traffic would cause severe uncertainty to India’s energy security. On the United States (US) allowing India to purchase oil from Russia, the CPM said that India had not faced such a grave national embarrassment ever since independence.
“As if to showcase its magnanimity, President Trump and his administration has ‘allowed’ India 30 days of reprieve to purchase Russian oil. Rubbing further salt to injury, a US official has plainly asserted that India will never be given similar concessions as was accorded to China and virtually indicated that the Indo-US Trade Deal was loaded in favour of the US. To rectify this situation, the CPM demands that the Modi government call for the immediate cessation of the war, so that peace can be restored and our national self-respect can be retrieved,” the party said.