The Hindu : National : Buddhadeb denounces ‘strategic alliance’

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Friday, Sep 28, 2007
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Buddhadeb denounces ‘strategic alliance’

Staff Reporter

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday denounced the “strategic alliance” that India was trying to forge with the United States, saying no country had benefited from an alliance with Washington.

“We will never accept America’s military hegemony,” Mr. Bhattacharjee said at a students rally, organised by the State committee of the Students Federation of India. He also questioned the need for conducting the multi-nation naval exercises involving the U.S in early September off the Visakhapatnam coast.

The rally was in protest against commercialisation of education and the nuclear deal with the U.S.

“The last time I met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, I told him that America was standing between him and me,” Mr. Bhattacharjee said, adding that if the U.S. was removed from the situation, the differences would be resolved.

“There have been country-wide protests, as well as protests by Members of Parliament and scientists, who had asked the government to distance itself from America.”

“We are a big country … and we cannot grow by submitting to other countries or holding their hands,” Mr. Bhattacharjee said.

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