Left hits streets to protest UPA’s economic policies

The Left parties today observed countrywide protests against the UPA government’s economic policies. Last week, the Left leaders had an...

The Left parties today observed countrywide protests against the UPA government’s economic policies. Last week, the Left leaders had announced that the government had left it with no other option but to take their complaints to the people. This followed the Union Government’s decision to hike FDI in telecom to 74 per cent. Today, the Left bastions of West Bengal and Kerala saw the most protests on the issue.

The Left parties have their respective congresses coming up in March to April and it is important for them to make their differences with the Congress visible.

The CPI and CPM draft resolutions to be adopted during the party congresses have lashed out at the UPA government and accused it of ‘‘pursuing the economic agenda’’ of the earlier NDA government. Over the past eight months, it has had to cede ground on FDI caps in the key areas of telecom and airports. Now, the Left parties are opposing policies concerning banking, electricity and insurance sectors.

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The two smaller constituents of the four-party Left Front — the RSP and Forward Bloc — have begun inserting ‘‘we can take very strong action’’ and ‘‘we can even walk out of the alliance’’ in their criticism of the UPA Government’s economic policies.

Last Saturday in Nagercoil, CPM Politburo member Prakash Karat warned that ‘‘consequences could be severe’’ if deviations from the CMP continued in this manner. The Forward Bloc was very critical of the UPA Government’s economic policies at its central committee meeting yesterday. At the post CC-briefing, its senior leader Debabrata Biswas accused the UPA of completely ignoring the CMP document and the Left’s policy demands.