24 February, 2020
The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
Heed the Voice of the People: Resist US Pressures
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) calls upon the Modi government not to succumb to the unilateral agenda of US President, Donald Trump on his visit to India. The singular intention of the US administration is to further prise open Indian economy to boost the US corporate interest and thus help the reelection bid of Trump.
The US agenda will most adversely affect the interests of the Indian farmers, our agriculture and in particular the dairy and poultry sectors. USA allows its agribusiness to distort prices to outcompete local farmers in the developing countries with a subsidy of a whopping $ 867 billion. Trump wants India to now remove the tariff barrier which serves as a policy tool to protect the Indian farmers, food procurement for people’s food security and minimum support price to our farmers. This will destroy Indian agriculture and the livelihood of crores of our people.
Trump is also targeting India’s health care sector which, at present, is a critical producer of affordable generic medicines. USA now demands that India must remove the compulsory licensing for the benefit of mega US pharmaceutical corporations.
The US corporate agenda on e-commerce is equally invasive which is trying to cajole India to sign the digital trade regime at WTO which would allow US big-tech to increase their control over the economy and the political process and facilitate free cross border data flows without compensation. At the same time, the Indian government must insist on US restrictive policy on HIB visas which is adversely affecting Indian IT industry.
Pressures are being exerted on export subsidy for small manufactures especially in fields like solar cell manufacturing.
With India suffering major pollution and climate change related challenges, the US has unilaterally backed out of the Paris agreement on United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and refusing to compensate and finance the climate change mitigation fund. The government of India has to resist this climate unilateralism and build resistance to force the US to accept its responsibility as the biggest historical emitter of Green House gases.
The USA today represents the biggest threat to a rule-based trading system and international order and undermines the security of livelihood and sovereignty of nations like India. The tariff unilateralism has already led to 46 per cent reduction of steel product exports in the last one year. The unilateral reclassification of India, as a developed country, will result in withdrawal of provisions for special and differential treatment necessary for flexible commitments and longer implementation period.
The pressure exerted by several military and security agreements and the insistence to implement them to secure US strategic interests and promote its weapon sales is detrimental to India’s sovereign interests and security concerns.
The Polit Bureau calls upon the BJP government to resist such US pressures which undermine India’s economy and security concerns. India, under this BJP government, is being reduced to the status of a subordinate ally of US imperialism which is against the interests of India and its independent stature in the world.
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) hails the protest this visit of US President Trump. The BJP government must heed this voice of the people and not succumb to US pressures.