TRIVANDRUM, 18 April 2004 — Kerala Chief Minister A.K. Antony, a member of Congress party’s top decision-making body, yesterday made it clear that his party will not follow the present foreign policy if voted to power.
In an interview to Arab News, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) member sharply criticized India’s silence on American invasion of Iraq and Sharon’s threat to kill Yasser Arafat saying India had totally surrendered to the US.
“We have become a US megaphone accepting its hegemony. This is disgusting. It’s against the Indian ethos and values. It is high time that Indian foreign policy regained its respectability. We have never been such a silent spectator in the past when sovereign nations were invaded and freedom struggles suppressed,” he said.
Antony said the party would uphold “true nonalignment policy” visualized by Jawaharlal Nehru and followed by successive Congress governments. “We have always stood by the Arabs in the Middle East conflict,” he said.
