Kolkata Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu yesterday  (Nov 27, 2006)described the US as a 'terrorist state' and said the Left parties would have to build up a campaign in making the UPA Government follow an independent foreign policy.

''When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called on me at my residence a few months ago, I told him not to go with the US. The US is a terrorist state,'' Basu said this evening at the

close of the year-long golden jubilee celebration of the West Bengal Government Employees' State Coordination Committee.

India should now follow an independent foreign policy since the cold war had ended and the Non-Aligned Movement was non-functional, he said, ''The UPA is dependent on theLeft. We will have to build up a campaign so that the Centre follows this.''

Stating that the country's political situation now was 'complex,' he cautioned the Coordination Committee that it should work in a manner to keep itself above partiality.

Basu, who headed the Left Front government for six consecutive terms, expressed gratitude to the Committee members for their contribution in returning the Front to power

for the seventh term in keeping with his wish.

''You have made many sacrifices in the past and stood by us in times of need. We are grateful to you for it. We have also given privileges to the state government employees which they did not enjoy in the previous Congress regime,'' he said.

The former Chief Minister was felicitated on the occasion along with Speaker of the state Assembly Hasim Abdul Halim.