SEZs jeopardising food security: Sharad

Describing the SEZ policy of the Centre as an invitation for mass unrest, Janata Dal (U) President Sharad Yadav today vowed to block it by joining hands with all those who were opposed to SEZs.

“SEZs will disrupt our economic system and jeopardise our food security,” he said. The Government, he felt, was bent upon developing SEZs despite protests from people in Punjab, Haryana, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Orissa. The farmers whose fertile land were being acquired were resisting the acquisition. Yadav wanted to know what happened to the Government circular which said no SEZs will be allowed on fertile land. He said unless the Government rolled back the SEZ policy, the country would witness social unrest on a scale never seen in post-Independence India.

Yadav reserved his comments about the brakes put by UP Chief Minister Mayawati on the Noida SEZ project. He said he would rather “wait to see what the truth is”.

Regarding the efforts of eight parties to forge a third front, Yadav said, “they are fighting for survival”. The country had only two key political formations. “It is UPA versus NDA,” he said. He saw no possibility of the third front playing any major role in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.