PEKING: “Neither dollars nor roubles can save the Indian reactionaries,” who were described as “political duds” in an article in the “People’s Daily” today [May 27]. The article entitled “What does Shastri’s visit to the Soviet Union show?” said: “the record of this Prime Minister of India is striking witness to the fact that Shastri is the loyal successor to Nehru in his anti-China policy.” The article said: “While things have long been in a bad way for the Shastri Government, it has become more isolated internationally than ever before and met with unprecedented difficulties at home as a result of its continued adherence to the foreign policy of depending on US imperialism. ... To cope with this difficult situation the Indian reactionaries have, in addition to relying on their Washington benefactors, pinned their hopes on Moscow.

“We must say that Shastri’s trip was not in vain. Money he obtained. The Soviet leaders acted handsomely. It was reported that they had promised him economic aid worth nine hundred million dollars.” The article added that according to the Soviet leaders, the Indian Government was the initiator of the policy of non-alignment. “But the fact is that India has long been wedded to the United States militarily and politically. The hard reality is that the Indian Government’s actions have helped the war forces and harmed the peace forces,” the article said. “A particularly striking example of this,” it said, “is the behaviour of the Indian reactionaries on the question of Viet-Nam.

“Even during his stay in Moscow, Shastri did not neglect his role as the political broker of US imperialism on the Viet-Nam question. He declared that every endeavour must be made to bring the parties concerned to the conference table” and called for the cessation of bombing of North Viet-Nam to “create an appropriate atmosphere for a peaceful settlement” to be in tune with the fraud of “suspension of bombing” which Lyndon Johnson was just then playing.”

Published in Dawn, May 29th, 2015

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