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West Bengal's communist party's demand |
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August 9, 2000
CALCUTTA (AP) - The Communist party that runs West Bengal state on Tuesday demanded the expulsion of the U.S. consul general and his Indian wife, saying they interfered in internal affairs by collecting information on 11 laborers killed last month. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) said it had decided at a meeting Monday night to ask the prime minister and home minister to arrange for expulsion of U.S. Consul General Christopher Sandrolini and his wife, Seema Sirohi, a former correspondent for a Calcutta newspaper. The party has objected to two political officers, Saurev Sen and Tinkoo Roy, being sent by the consulate on July 27 to Nanur to gather information about the killings, allegedly carried out by members of the Communist party. Party Secretary Anil Biswas alleged that the report of the consular officers had been sent to a human rights organization, and said the investigation "was an attack on the country's sovereignty." A high-ranking member of the foreign ministry, Ajit Panja, said that if the consulate had engaged in such an investigation it was a serious interference in India's internal affairs. However, he said, the demand for the consul general's expulsion was "hotheaded." The second most powerful official in the state, Deputy Chief Minister Budhadev Bhattacharjee, said the consulate had said it had a right to send a team to collect information, and that the Communist party had not made any formal complaint. The consulate refused to comment to The Associated Press. |