New Delhi: The government has decided to go ahead with joint exercises planned between the air forces of India and US - Cope-India 05 - in West Bengal from November 7 despite opposition from Left parties.
The decision comes after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) followed by a meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Defence
Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday and after consultations with West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and central leaders of the CPI-M.
Mukherjee said a request was made to the state government to make necessary security arrangements so that the exercises could take place.
He said they were routine exercises that were being held for the last four-five years and were nothing new.
The Defence Minister also stated that political parties had the right to demonstrate as long as the demonstrations were peaceful.
The CPI-M, which heads ruling Left Front in West Bengal, had earlier announced that nearly 30 lakh Left Front activists would demonstrate state-wide on November 7.
The Left parties, including the CPI-M, CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc issued a joint statement yesterday opposing the air exercise.
"The deepening military collaboration (between India and US) does not augur well for India's strategic interests and independent foreign policy", the statement said.
CPI-M politburo member and state secretary Anil Biswas said, "The government may go ahead with the Indo-US joint air exercise, but our protest will continue as planned."
He added that the people of West Bengal would not accept imperialist forces and their agents.
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