NEW DELHI, 4 September 2007 — Unfazed by objections voiced by the left, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is going ahead with the biggest ever naval war game being hosted by the Indian Navy. India, the United States, Singapore, Australia and Japan are participating in the five-day naval exercises, beginning today, in the Bay of Bengal.

Protesting against “dangerous implications” of these naval exercises, leftist parties took out a rally in Kolkata on Sept. 1. In a statement, Communist Party of India-Marxist said: “These exercises are seen as a major step toward India joining a strategic cooperation between India and the United States, Australia and Japan. There will be countrywide protests from Sept. 4 to 8 against these exercises.”

The leftists are of the view that such exercise would enable the United States to establish its hegemony in Indian waters and help Washington make a military base for its operations in Southeast Asia. In addition, the left bloc is suspicious this is an attempt to co-opt India into the Israeli-US axis. It is for the first time such exercises are being held near the Andaman Islands, close to China’s monitoring stations at Coco Islands and near the strategic Strait of Malacca. Till now, Indo-US exercises have been conducted off the western coast of India.

Critics view these exercises as an attempt to contain Chinese entry into the Indian Ocean via Maldives, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Other analysts view this as proof of India joining the quadrilateral security engagement of NATO between Australia, the US and Japan in a “strategic encirclement” of China.

Dismissing the view that these exercises were targeting China, commander of the US Pacific Command, Navy Adm. Timothy Keating, while in Delhi last week, said: “As it happens, there are interests shared by the United States, Japan, Australia, India and others all throughout this region. There’s no, let me emphasize no, effort on our part or any of those other countries’ parts I’m sure to isolate China, to put them in the closet.”

Highlighting the significance of these exercises, India’s Naval Chief Adm. Suresh Mehta said: “The Indian Navy stands to benefit a lot from this exercise. It is quite an experience for our sailors and officers as they get a chance to acquaint themselves with the top of the line technology and weapons systems. If you have 40 different types of aircrafts operating... ships to go... get battle ready... it’s quite an experience… I don’t think we can have such an environment with just one country.”

He also pointed to the Indian Navy having earlier successfully conducted similar exercises with navies of the US, Britain, France, Russia, Sri Lanka and China. “We worked with the Chinese Navy in March this year. We did some work basically in the search and rescue aspects, the common thing we do to start with such exercises. And from there onwards, we graduate to major exercises,” he said.

The naval war games, scheduled to begin early this morning, will see a flotilla of 26 warships, including aircraft carriers, missile frigates and destroyers, in intense action. The participation of the US is marked by 13 of its warships including nuclear powered submarine USS Chicago, aircraft carriers USS Nimitz and USS Kitty Hawk. The left bloc plans to kick-start two simultaneous processions from Chennai and Kolkata today in protest these exercises. CPI-M chief Prakash Karat will lead the procession from Chennai, while A.B. Bardhan, his counterpart in the Communist Party of India (CPI), will head the one from Kolkata.