SP punctures UPA hopes,joins hands with Left against FDI in retail

“We urge the government not to open up the retail trade to FDI any further,” said the letter signed by Mulayam,CPM chief Prakash Karat,CPI chief Sudhakar Reddy,Forward Bloc’s Debabrata Biswas,Revolutionary Socialist Party’s Abani Roy and JD(S)’s Danish Ali. The CPM said the letter had been delivered to the PMO yesterday.

Mulayam’s decision to join hands with the Left is bad news for the government,since his outside support is crucial for it to push reforms. In their letter,the SP and Left express apprehension that introducing FDI in retail will pave the way for an “MNC supermarket and hypermarket” that will displace small retailers in the domestic retail sector,“the second largest employer in the country after agriculture”,employing over four crore people.

“Political parties across the spectrum are opposed to this move. Many state governments have also stated their opposition. In the absence of a wide-ranging consensus,we request you not to proceed with this decision,” the letter states.

Contending that one “Wal-Mart supermarket would displace over 1,300 small retail stores and render around 3,900 persons jobless”,the letter says FDI in retail would further hit workers at a time when employment growth is slowing.