In bad company

This issue also carries a report about CPM politburo member Sitaram Yechury’s speech at a training camp of SFI activists from the northern states. It says, “Sitaram Yechury spoke about the ongoing philosophy of ‘Chak De’, which preaches that old values and ideas do not carry any importance. For individual benefit, people need only modern advances.”

He also pointed out that only 6 lakh young people work in the IT sector (the number of youth in the country is 55 crore), and thus, a vast majority still represents a ‘Suffering India’. He reminded them of the legacy of Bhagat Singh and his comrades, who laid down their lives for the country.

Yechury also said that for the last 30 years, US companies that produce nuclear reactors have not received any orders. The Indo-US deal is, therefore, in accordance with the plans of George Bush. He also pointed out that all of Bush’s close associates — Britain’s Tony Blair, Japan’s Shinzo Abe, and even Australia’s John Howard — have either been forced to quit office or are on their way out. He then asked the Indian prime minister not be on the same track.