The Hindu : Front Page : CPI(M) for stir against oil price hike

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 29, 2006

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Front Page

CPI(M) for stir against oil price hike

Marcus Dam

It will have cascading effect on prices of essential commodities, says Karat

Kolkata: Besides the other Left parties, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) will contact "all democratic and secular parties" to launch a "powerful countrywide movement" against the Centre's proposed petroleum products price hike.

"Earlier, Left parties had protested [on the issue]. Now we are getting other parties including regional parties to join hands on such issues and policies," CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat said after the party's Polit Bureau meeting here on Sunday.

The Centre's proposal for a fifth hike in fuel prices in its two-year tenure would have a "cascading effect" on the prices of all essential commodities, he said.

"We are unable to understand why the UPA Government is taking a complacent attitude on the issue of price rise in all essential commodities used by the people. It has failed to deal with the situation and instead takes satisfaction that the rate of inflation has come down to four per cent which is also not quite correct," he said.

Nationwide campaign

The CPI(M) Polit Bureau decided that in view of the Left victories in West Bengal and Kerala, it would conduct a nationwide political campaign projecting the political and policy issues which the CPI(M) and the Left stand for.

The details of the campaign would be chalked out at the party's three-day central committee meeting in Hyderabad beginning on June 8.

"Regarding our approach toward the functioning of the UPA Government, the Left parties have already assessed its performance over the past two years," Mr. Karat said.

The Left parties will meet in Delhi on June 1 to "decide collectively" the issues which should be taken up with the Centre "There are certain issues over which we have not come to an understanding with the UPA Government. There are some over which we have our differences," he said.

The CPI(M) noted that the problems arising from the agrarian crisis had not been tackled properly.

There is a projected deficit of 30 lakh tonnes in foodgrains as on April 1, 2007. With declining procurement, food security and the public distribution system was bound to be affected, he said.

Mr. Karat said the Centre refused to review the taxation structure for petroleum products by which the Government had imposed a big burden on the people.

Without reducing the tax burden on petroleum products any attempt to impose added burdens on the people will have no justification and has to be strongly resisted, he said

Reiterating the party's stand on the reservation for the Other Backward Classes, he said: "As distinct from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe categories, the CPI(M) has maintained that there should be a socio-economic criterion which ensures that the needy sections among the OBCs benefit from the reservation."

The party advocated a commensurate increase in the number of seats in Central Government educational institutions when the OBC reservation was introduced.

Appeal to students

The CPI (M) appealed to students and other sections agitating against the reservation to understand that the proposal put out by the UPA and the Left parties would provide an equitable and balanced solution to the problem.

The CPI(M) Polit Bureau criticised the UPA Government for pushing privatisation of airports under the "guise of modernisation." The Airports Authority of India had a reserve of Rs. 3,000 crore and was fully competent to be entrusted the task of modernising the airports under its jurisdiction, Mr. Karat said.

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