Press Release
Sitaram Yechury, Leader of CPI(M) Group in Rajya Sabha and member of the CPI(M) Polit Bureau, has issued the following statement:
There is news circulating that I am a signatory to a petition to the US President asking for the denial of US visa for the Gujarat Chief Minister. I deny having signed any such letter.
It is neither in my character nor in the principles of my Party – the Communist Party of India (Marxist) – to petition any sovereign country on matters that fall strictly within the sovereign domain of that country. It is this very principle that leads us to strongly oppose and denounce any external interference into India’s internal affairs undermining its sovereignty.
Much of this controversy is taking place in cyberspace. The one circulating in cyberspace, now many months after it was allegedly signed, is typed on the letterhead of a Member of Parliament which carries the insignia of our national symbol, the Ashoka Chakra. The heading under which some signatures are appended says, `Names and Signatures of Indian MPs’. Strange. Which other country’s MPs would sign on the letterhead of the Indian Parliament? This, itself, suggests some efforts at cut and paste.