[L-I] Today's Press release 2

For Favour of Publication

CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya's statement on Presidential
Election and Dissolution of People's Front



New Delhi, 13 June.
We welcome the Left parties' opposition to the NDA's nomination of Dr. APJ
Abdul Kalam for the office of the President of India. Dr. Kalam is a key
architect of India's nuclear weaponisation programme and is also well known
for his ardent advocacy of a stronger military-industrial complex. Choosing
such an individual for the President's office is perfectly in line with the
Sangh Parivar's line of aggressive militarisation and Advani's doctrine of
defence as the key to development, but it certainly does not augur well for
the Indian people's quest for peace, development and democracy.
We also welcome the dissolution of the so-called People's Front which was
anyway nothing more than an electoral understanding of the CPI(M) and CPI
with the Samajwadi Party. It was born in the laboratory of electoral
pragmatism, and now the same exigencies of parliamentary opportunism have
led to its demise. A broad-based confederation of Left and democratic forces
is indeed necessary as a vehicle of anti-fascist anti-imperialist people's
movement. But during its two years of paralytic existence, the so-called
People's Front had shown no inclination to grow in this direction.
The collapse of the People's Front has once again underlined the paramount
need for a principled, broad-based and movement-oriented unity of the Left.
While cherishing this orientation, we strongly oppose any idea of a
strategic partnership between the Left and the Congress. We call upon all
activists and supporters of the Left in the country to remain vigilant and
see to it that the ignominious demise of the farce perpetrated in the name
of the People's Front does not mark a resurrection of a Congress-Left
alliance.



_______________________________________________
Leninist-International mailing list
Leninist-International@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To change your options or unsubscribe go to:
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/leninist-international