By IANS,
New Delhi : Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary Prakash Karat has accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the US arms lobby of creating complications in India-China relations.
“There has been a revival of the bogey of the threat from China among sections of the corporate media and strategic experts,” Karat said in an article written on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the People’s Republic of China Thursday.
“A report appeared of firing by the security forces across the border with injuries sustained by two ITBP guards. All such reports were either baseless or highly exaggerated,” Karat said in the article titled “Chinese Revolution: An Epoch Making Event.”
The article will be carried by the forthcoming issue of the CPI-M official organ People’s Democracy.
“The rising economic power of the two Asian giants – China and India – is presented as a source of conflict between the two. In strategic terms, China is sought to be pitted against India. Those dominating the world economic order would like nothing better than a relationship of rivalry and conflict between China and India,” Karat said.
Referring to RSS chief Mohan Bhagawat’s allegation that China and Bangladesh were creating problems for India with expansionist designs, Karat said: “The rightwing circles in the country have been prompt to pick up the theme of a threat from China.
“All this is being orchestrated to demand greater defence preparedness against China with the unstated requirement being deeper strategic and military ties with the US,” he said.
“The top ranking commanders of the US armed forces who regularly visit India, unfailingly point to the military threat posed by China.
“Within India, the lobbies that want the strategic alliance with the US to be cemented are precisely those who seek to thwart the potential of India-China cooperation,” Karat added.
He said then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s China visit in 1988 helped India to normalise and develop bilateral relations.
“Since then, successive governments in India have taken steps to improve relations with China and to have a negotiated settlement of the outstanding border dispute. Cooperation between India and China is in the interests of both countries and has a natural basis,” Karat said.