April 24, 2005

Press Statement

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:

The king of Nepal has announced that India has agreed to resume military supplies to Nepal after a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. If this report is true, it is a wrong and unjustified step. The Indian government had correctly decided to stop military supplies after the King of Nepal had suppressed parliamentary democracy and imposed an emergency to establish his authoritarian rule. The CPI(M) and all other democratic forces in the country had welcomed this decision.

The King of Nepal in his speech at the Asian African Summit in Jakarta strongly defended his authoritarian action. All that he has assured in his talks with the Prime Minister is that democracy would be restored “sooner rather than later”. Already municipal elections have been announced which are  farcical and cannot be a substitute to full restoration of parliamentary democracy and having an elected government.

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) demands that the UPA government clarify the situation immediately. There should be no question of resuming arms supplies to a despotic King who suppresses elementary democratic rights of the people. The UPA government must realize that the appreciation and goodwill it earned with its firm stand in defence of democracy and popular government in Nepal will disappear and it will be held responsible for abetting the King’s authoritarianism.