Pledging to fight American imperialism, Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Prakash Karat and Communist Part of India national secretary D Raja flagged off a protest jatha from Chennai to Vishakapattanam on Wednesday. The CPI (M) is protesting the ongoing naval exercise at the Bay of Bengal, which involves the United States and four other countries.
Launching the jatha after garlanding the statue of late freedom fighter V O Chidambaram Pillai, who was imprisoned till his death for floating the Swadeshi Shipping Company during the British rule, Karat said, "Let all of us take a pledge to fight imperialist forces like the late leader."
"The situation is the same now as it was during Pillai's struggle against the British empire. We pledge that we will not allow India to become an ally of the US imperialism," he said.
Karat emphasised that it was not a symbolic protest. "We will fight to stop India from becoming an ally of the US." he said.
Everyone should take a pledge that India's sovereignty should be protected at any cost, said Raja.
Forward Bloc leader Devarajan said that the jatha was just "the small beginning of a big fight".
The jatha will culminate at Vishakapattanam on September 8, the same day the jatha from Kolkata, led by CPI leader A B Bardhan, reaches the city. The Kolkata jatha was flagged off by senior CPI(M) leader Jyoti Basu on Tuesday.
However, Karat declined to comment on the compostion of the UPA-Left nuclear deal committee.
"It was already decided. I have no comment to make on it," he said.