The Hindu : Front Page : G-20 cannot solve global crisis: Karat

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Sunday, Nov 16, 2008
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G-20 cannot solve global crisis: Karat

Staff Reporter

Manmohan following in Bush’s footsteps
Centre’s policies benefit only the rich and MNCs

ALAPPUZHA: Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat on Saturday said it was indeed strange to see the very persons, who had brought the global financial system to a collapse, gathering together in the name of the G-20 Financial Summit to supposedly to solve and “cover up the crime.”

The Summit or the so-called solutions discussed there would not end the crisis, and the policies followed by the Manmohan Singh government were not the way to save the people and economy of India.

Mr. Karat was inaugurating a massive gathering of fishermen, Matsya Thozhilali Mahasangamam, organised by the Matsya Thozhilali Federation (CITU) here.

The Summit was unreasonable, more so because the person who convened it, George W. Bush, would in two months cease to be the President of the United States, while in the Indian context, Dr. Singh, who was following in his footsteps, would no longer be Prime Minister after six months.

Dr. Singh’s government had over the last four-and-a-half years pursued policies which benefited only the rich and multinationals that had made investments in India, Mr. Karat said. Ninety per cent of India’s population was pushed into poverty as the economy was subjected to speculation over foreign capital. Even in the hour of crisis, the Centre was not adopting policies that could boost production, stimulate demand, create more jobs and pump in more money for welfare measures for all sections. Instead, it was trying to tackle the crisis by subsidising the rich and putting the burden on the poor.

Dr. Singh was still following Mr. Bush’s strategies, refusing to reduce the prices of petroleum products though the international crude oil prices had plummeted. The Centre, which continued to levy taxes at Rs. 13 a litre of petrol for the common man, waived the five per cent customs duty on aviation fuel and was charging a tax of just Rs.1.80 a litre following requests by big private airline companies.

This showed the ‘class approach’ and ‘double standards’ of the United Progressive Alliance, Mr. Karat said, calling for a “big, powerful and united” struggle by all sections to demand policies that could save the country from an acute financial crisis.

The CPI(M) leader also called for isolation of communal forces that were trying to destroy the secular fabric of the country. These forces had been trying to pit one community against the other on the Kerala coast for several decades and now their attempts reached dangerous proportions across the country.

Hatred was being spread and polarisation being attempted by communal forces, particularly the Hindutva forces. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh had floated several organisations to trigger hatred and create a religious divide among the people, Mr. Karat alleged.

The RSS and other Hindutva outfits were also targeting Muslims and spreading propaganda that action should be taken against “Muslim terrorism,” when the reality was that terrorism could not be ascribed to one particular religion. A few black sheep did not represent the entire community. The Muslim community was in fact increasingly isolating such forces.

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