Cadres roll out red carpet for Left jatha

As for CPI(M)’s Prakash Karat and CPI’s National Council secretary D Raja, who led the march in a tempo traveller, they blew hot and cold, sometimes threatening and at other times cajoling the Congress to give up their “partnership” with America.

Their aggressive posturing had little impact on port labourers in the harbour area of Chennai, and later Red Hills and Gummidipoondi in north Tamil Nadu.

Understanding about the issues under protest was even less in Sulurpet or Gudur in Andhra Pradesh where cadres waited in sweltering heat for the jatha to arrive.

At Chennai harbour, as party workers set off fireworks, Karat garlanded a portrait of V O Chidambaranath and declared it was “an irony of history” that when the freedom fighter had suffered imprisonment for launching a shipping company to break the British monopoly, today “our rulers are inviting the same imperialists for naval exercises in our waters”.

At Red Hills, Karat warned: “If the Manmohan Singh Government thinks we will allow India to become a junior partner of America, then they are mistaken.” But he went on to add: “We are going to the people to say we are opposed to this. We appeal to you to fully support our campaign that India stop this military collaboration with the US and stop the harmful nuclear agreement.”

The refrain continued in Gummidipoondi, Sulurpet and Gudur.

During a short break, Karat, to a question on whether he was issuing any ultimatum to the Government, told The Indian Express: “Nothing like that. But we want to make clear our stand that we are opposed to the joint naval exercises.”