Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

India should shape South-East Asia’s foreign policy, says BSP

COIMBATORE: As the biggest country in South East Asia, India should shape this region’s foreign policy apart from maintaining close, friendly relations with the other countries in this region, national general secretary of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Suresh Mane told presspersons here on Monday.

The lack of the desired response from Sri Lanka to appeals from India for the cessation of hostilities was the result of a weak foreign policy. “The Sri Lankan issue relates to foreign policy. There can be a solution only through a policy of positive intervention,” he said. In this context, he accused the parties in Tamil Nadu of resorting to “emotional politics” over the Sri Lankan situation.

The BSP would work to evolve a foreign policy that would have a bearing on the entire region through an agenda of friendly ties.

On the political formation that could emerge at the Centre, Mr. Mane said that under no circumstance would the BSP allow the formation of a Government by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance or the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance.

On the party’s foray into Tamil Nadu, he said the BSP was projecting itself as the party of the neglected people; one that would deal with neglected issues. For instance, the Brahmins in Tamil Nadu were politically neglected, he said.

Asked whether the party could make an impact by contesting against major Dravidian parties in the State, and that too when it was going it alone, he replied: “When we have succeeded in Bihar and Orissa, why cannot we succeed in Tamil Nadu? We have not entered into any political alliance because the BSP believes in social alliance.”

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