Vivek Mohan Rao
Air Corporation Emproyee Union, Centre
of Indian Trade Unions (CITU)
India
At the outset, on behalf of the Centre
of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) let me take this opportunity to express our
sincere thanks to the Organising Committee for inviting a two-member delegation
to participate in the 2001 World Conference Against A & H Bombs, which
is being held at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On behalf of the working
class of India, I extend our warm greetings to all the delegates,
observers and participants of this Conference
and sincerely wish a resounding success to this Conference.
Ever since the bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki on the 6th and 9th August, 1945 by the US imperialists and the
massive destruction caused to the people of Japan, the movement for the
abolition of nuclear weapons have been gaining momentum world wide.
Unmindful of the world public opinion, country after country had embarked
upon acquiring the knowledge and scientific know-how of producing nuclear
weapons so as to get the so-called status
of NUCLEAR STATE. The imperialist countries went on increasing the
striking power of their nuclear weapons with a view to upset the balance
of power and to retain themselves as the only superpower in the world.
While on the one hand the United States went on increasing its nuclear
capacity and striking power and produced atomic/hydrogen bombs with massive
destructive capacity, it also attempted
to scuttle all attempts and moves to destroy all nuclear weapons in the
world and make it completely free from the nuclear menace.
In spite of world public opinion of the
peace-loving people, the US is lately going ahead with its nuclear missile
defence system. The belligerent attitude of the United States of America
has proved once again that it has scant respect for the democratic and
peace-loving people of the world and has no intention whatsoever to honour
the desire of the world people for total destruction and abolition of all
nuclear
weapons. The ambition of US imperialism
is clear and categorical. It is striving hard to become the biggest nuclear
power on earth. The CITU takes this opportunity through this conference
to convey that the peace-loving people all over the world, including those
in the United States of America, will defeat the machinations and belligerence
of imperialism and force all nuclear powers to respect the world public
opinion and usher in an era of total abolition
of nuclear weapons.
Some of the developing countries have also joined the race for nuclear weaponisation. My country, India, and our neighbour Pakistan have also tested nuclear devices in recent years. They are now members of the nuclear club. The people of India and Pakistan wish to live in peace and maintain friendly and good-neighbourly relations. Although India has announced that it would not be the first to use nuclear weapons, the possession and stockpiling of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems by India and Pakistan undoubtedly pose a grave threat to peace and stability the world over in general and that part of Asia in particular. Millions of people in both of these countries are suffering from the want of basic necessities and are confronted with mounting poverty, unemployment and under-nourishment, which pose a serious challenge to their very existence. The people of India and Pakistan desire that their Governments must sit across the table and settle all outstanding disputes amicably without resorting to armed conflicts.
In India the policies of liberalisation,
privatisation and globalisation are being implemented under the dictates
of the IMF and the World Bank. This is, indeed, leading the country
and its people to total disaster. The WTO dictated polices are playing
havoc especially with the agricultural sector. The scarce resources
of our country could be better utilised for the economic upliftment, education,
health care and
other basic necessicities of the people
if huge spendings on nuclear arms race could be directed to economic development.
The working class in India strongly denounces the economic sanctions imposed by the United States and others and demands that these unjustified sanctions must be lifted without further delay. It also demands that the Govt. of India must refrain from indulging in the nuclear arms race and give leadership to the campaign for total abolition and complete destruction of all A & H bombs, so that our mother earth could be saved from the disastrous consequences of a nuclear war.
The worldwide campaign against the A &
H bombs and the demand that nuclear weapon states must carry out total
abolition of nuclear weapons, must be pressed forward intensively and vigorously.
International co-operation and solidarity, exchange of peace delegations
between countries, and more and more campaigns and struggles are to be
launched and intensified. Only then the peace-loving people of
the world could force the governments
in their own countries and elsewhere to abandon the path of nuclear arms
race and carry out total destruction of nuclear weapons.
Let us march forward for the total elimination
of nuclear weapons!
Glory to the 2001 World Conference Against
A & H Bombs!
Long live world peace!