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India, US hold joint air exercises as thousands protest
By Sujoy Dhar, Kalaikunda (West Bengal):US F-16 and Indian Su-30 combat jets roared across the sky over this eastern defence airbase as the two countries Monday began their largest joint air exercises amid vociferous protests by Left parties that rule West Bengal.
Around 70,000 people had gathered to protest the air exercises, which began at 9 a.m. at the Kalaikunda airbase, the venue for the 12-day Cope India 05 exercises featuring frontline Indian and US combat jets.
Amid the Su-30s and Mirage-2000s taking off and landing as part of the exercises, creating a deafening roar, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-organised protest went on at a field near the airbase.
Apart from burning a straw effigy of US President George W. Bush and an effigy denoting the India-US defence agreement inked when Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee went to the US earlier this year, the protest was largely peaceful.
District Superintendent of Police Ajay Nand said: "There were around 70,000 people today for the protest."
A majority of the protestors were farmers, many of whom had not heard of either the US or Bush, and had been brought from the adjoining villages in the district. The protest, marked by much slogan shouting and chanting of revolutionary songs, was addressed by mostly local leaders.
"We are protesting against the threat to our internal security and these air exercises are in violation of our independent foreign policy and the common minimum programme of the UPA government at the centre," said Deepak Sarkar, West Midnapore district senior CPI-M leader. The CPI-M lends outside support to the United Progressive Alliance government in New Delhi.
The protestors shouted slogans like "No Bush Policy in India". They also sang songs in Bengali, which translated went "Uncle Sam, You Have no Place in India" and "Helpless Democracy in Distress".
Waving red flags, the CPI-M supporters also recited from the works of Kavi Sukanto, a rebel poet of Bengal. The party had put up a giant billboard showing the map of India chained by the India-US military agreement.
Around 800 policemen were deployed at the site, including 100 senior police officials, said Milan Das, Additional Superintendent of Police, West Midnapore.
The US has sent over 250 US personnel and 12 F-16 fighters from its 35th Wing based at Misawa in Japan and E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control systems aircraft for the manoeuvres, which will end at sunset.
The Indian Air Force is represented by some 30 fighter jets, including Mirage 2000s and Su-30s, at the war games for which this eastern airbase in West Midnapore district was specially refurbished. Air Commodore Atul Saikia is heading the Indian team.
The US airmen were interacting with their Indian counterparts and also playing basketball, said an air force source.
Fish curry and other dishes were brought in from 'Sourav', the restaurant owned by former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly in Kolkata's Park Street. The restaurant has got the contract to supply the food for the 12-day exercise.
Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee had announced last week that the exercise would go ahead despite the protests by the Left parties. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, who is wooing American investment to the state, has also condemned the war games.
The Left parties have said the deepening military collaboration with the US did not augur well for India's strategic interests and independent foreign policy. They alleged the joint exercise was part of a larger American strategy to set up military bases in the region.
India and the US had conducted their first air exercises in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, in central India last year.
The two countries, with deepening strategic ties, have stepped up manoeuvres between their three services over the past few years to build "inter-operability" for possible joint operations during terrorist attacks and other contingencies.
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