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Brinda Karat: UPA partners not doing enough for workers hit by global crisis

Special Correspondent

— PHOTO: S. SIVA SARAVANAN

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Brinda Karat addressing a press conference in Coimbatore on Sunday.

COIMBATORE: United Progressive Alliance (UPA) partners, including the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), are not doing enough to bail out workers of units affected by the global meltdown, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member and Member of Parliament Brinda Karat said here on Sunday.

“We are not hearing the voice of the UPA partners, so we are raising our voice for the workers. We have demanded a relief package for them,” she told presspersons.

Job loss in Tirupur

“There is a strange silence on the part of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and its government, considering the number of export units in Tamil Nadu affected by the crisis,” she said.

The CPI(M) had taken serious note of the situation in the knitwear export zone of Tirupur where workers were losing jobs as units were hit by the meltdown. The State government did not seem to have asked the Centre for any steps to help the workers, she said.

Stating that Tirupur’s example applied to all sectors across the country, especially the export-oriented units, Ms. Karat wondered what the Centre did to bail out the workers.

“Is there bailout only for the companies and not for the workers?”

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme should be extended to the urban areas also to help the poor workers find some means of income.

A strong public distribution system with substantial subsidy on food items was the need for the workers at the moment. The domestic market conditions should be improved and the purchasing power of the poor and the middle class should be improved.

Ms. Karat justified her party’s moves for an alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) by pointing out that the DMK had given up all its stated positions in order to enable the Congress-led UPA to remain in power. The UPA had “betrayed” the Common Minimum Programme, she said.

Ms. Karat was replying to a question on reports that the CPI(M) cadres were not happy with the party entering into an understanding with the AIADMK.

The lack of consensus in Parliament on 33 per cent representation for women was yet another instance of betrayal by the Congress, she said.

Sri Lanka situation

On the Sri Lankan issue, Ms. Karat said her party had concern for the Tamils in the island nation, but said this should not be seen as support to those resorting to terrorism.

“We have concern for the safety and security of the Tamils. But, we do not want our concern misused by forces supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam,” she said. A political solution must be found within the framework of the Sri Lankan nation.

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