The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has criticised the Telangana and Andhra Pradesh governments for announcing sops to different sections of society with an eye on consolidating their vote bank for the next elections.
The manner in which Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and his A.P. counterpart N. Chandrababu Naidu are going ahead in announcing different incentives is indicative of their efforts to disrupt the unity among the working class.
“The governments are using all the means at their disposal to see that the working class does not join hands against the policies being adopted by the two governments as also the BJP-led Central Government,” CPI (M) Polit Bureau member B.V. Raghavulu said.
Mr. Raghavulu cited the claims and counter claims of the two Telugu-speaking States on ease of doing business ranking.
The ease of doing business was, in fact, a method of neo-liberal policies which would incorporate self-certification clause and this would, in turn, allow the industry not to implement the existing provisions governing the working class, including the labour laws.
“The governments are announcing a spree of populist schemes so that the existing dissatisfaction among the people in general and working class in particular does not manifest in the form of sustained struggles,” he said.
CITU meeting
Mr. Raghavulu was speaking at the inaugural of the two-day extended meeting of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) here on Sunday.
Referring to the demonetisation effected by the Central Government, he said it was one of the several measures the Narendra Modi Government had announced to bail out corporates.
Demonetisation, promotion of e-commerce transactions and other measures were aimed at diluting the unorganised sector and handing over consolidated business to corporates.
The initiatives of the Central Government like the proposed election bonds exposes its intentions as is evident from the manner in which corporates were exempted from announcing their names even after making huge donations while it is mandatory for the common man to provide his identity even for donations as small as ₹ 20,000.
“This is the easiest way of converting black money accumulated by the rich and influential into white,” he said exhorting the working class to stay united to meet more challenges in future.
