US presidentis a "war criminal".
- From: "jane abraham" <arah1958@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 27 Feb 2006 23:05:06 -0800
NEW DELHI: Cartoons, poems, T-shirts, paintings, even Bollywood
one-liners - everything will turn into anti-Bush arsenal when thousands
take to the streets here on Thursday to oppose a US president they say
is a "war criminal".
And the Indian communists, spearheading what they claim could be the
biggest anti-American demonstration the city has seen, have warned of a
"free for all" if the authorities try to clamp down on the planned show
of strength against George W. Bush.
"We are not going to create law and order problems," said Joginder
Sharma, who heads the Delhi unit of the Communist Party of
India-Marxist (CPI-M), which backs India's coalition government but is
cut up with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his perceived closeness
to Washington.
"Ours is going to be a peaceful protest march from the Ramlila ground
(in the heart of the city) to Parliament Street (five kilometres away).
But if we are forcibly stopped, it will become a free for all."
The police are in a fix. They do not want the demonstrators, who could
number tens of thousands, to march up to Parliament Street. They want
the procession to take a detour, but the organisers are not listening.
Protest leaders are promising a colourful and noisy show. And given the
fact that neighbouring Uttar Pradesh's ruling Samajwadi Party has also
thrown its lot with the Left, the numbers will not be a problem.
"One thing is definite. It is going to be quite a colourful protest,"
said a prominent Left-leaning cultural activist known only as Rajan.
"This is because a lot of creative people have got involved."
Rajan is a member of the SAHMAT, a cultural body that counts many in
the fields of arts and theatre as its members.
"Bush, go back!" says one of the many posters prepared for the
occasion. Another screams: "Bomb Texas! They have oil too!" Yet
another, in a mixture of Hindi and Urdu, asks: "Bush Ahwan, Kiska
Mehman?" (Whose guest is Bush?)
There will also be an exhibition of cartoons and paintings. Poets are
doing their bit. There would also be T-shirts with Bush caricatures,
worn by those who will be taking an active role in the demonstration.
The T-shirts show three guns pointing to Bush and use a Hindi film
dialogue from "Sholay" to say: "Tera kya hoga Dubya?" (And what of you,
Dubya?)
Rajan says it will be a mistake to assume that only the communists and
Muslims are opposed to Bush.
"The anger against this man is widespread, I can tell you that," Rajan
said. "Only yesterday I was in my car and two young men on a motorcycle
asked where I had the anti-Bush sticker from. They also wanted one."
According to Joginder Singh, besides eight political parties, more than
110 trade unions and other groups under the National Platform of Mass
Organisations umbrella will take part in the anti-Bush rally.
What is common to all of them is their anti-Bush sentiment, arising
primarily on account of the US invasion of Iraq that has claimed
thousands of lives.
Joginder Singh was reluctant to reveal how many would be on the streets
on Thursday but said: "What I can tell is that this would be the
biggest anti imperialist rally in Delhi."
He refuses to accept police pleas not to go up to Parliament Street.
"The police are telling us to halt at ITO (Income Tax Office). We
cannot accept that. This is a democracy. If others can go to Parliament
Street, we too have a right. Bush is not welcome to India.
"If the police come in our way, there will be chaos everywhere in the
city, everywhere there will be traffic jams. Whatever is in our command
we will resort to in such a case."
And he added: "Bush is a war criminal. He should not have been invited
at all."
Miserable failure = Bush
Cheney = Liar
Rice = Cartoon
.
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