KOLKATA, NOVEMBER 2 For the first time in decades, an Indian Air Force base will be picketed by a political party’s activists. Bengal’s ruling Left Front, key allies of the UPA at the Centre, will use 100,000 cadres to gherao the Kalaikunda airbase to protest ‘‘American military presence’’ when US Air Force F-16s arrive there on November 7 for Cope India 05.

The joint Indo-US air exercise, until Nov ember19, will be the first mock-tumble between the IAF and US Air Force F-16 Falcons from the USAF 35th Wing based in Misawa, North Japan.

The IAF flew with Singapore F-16s earlier this year and with USAF F-15s in Gwalior last year.

While the IAF will field MiG-27s, Sukhoi-30Ks, MiG-21 Bisons and Mirage-2000Hs, the US will be bringing a mixed squadron of new generation F-16CJ Falcons and F-16DJ Fighting Falcons.

But the Left, particularly the CPM, has viewed such military cooperation as ‘‘unwelcome’’. In July, CPM leader Prakash Karat had demanded that the Indo-US defence cooperation pact be scrapped.

In fact, US consul general in Kolkata, Henry V Jardine had to clarify recently: ‘‘These developments do not compromise India’s sovereignty or independence. These are arrangements between two equal, important partners who look to the future and understand what some of their shared values and objectives must be.’’

The lone voice of reason in the Left brigade is General Shankar Roy Chowdhury, former Army chief and now a Left-backed member of the Rajya Sabha.

‘‘This joint military exercise is part of a national policy, and I don’t see any reason why anybody should object to the venue because Bengal is also part of the country,’’ Gen Roy Chowdhury told The Indian Express. But Jyoti Basu, former chief minister, said: ‘‘We are totally against such joint military operations. It is unfortunate that the UPA government seems to be getting into the clutches of the Americans like the NDA.’’