A serious shortcoming of the Liberhan Commission is its silence on the culpability of the Narasimha Rao government which did not do anything to stop the demolition of the Babri Masjid, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat has said.
Speaking on the sidelines of a Left parties’ rally here on Wednesday against the price rise, Mr. Karat said that while the report identified those guilty of conspiracy, the Action Taken Report (ATR) tabled in Parliament did not suggest concrete action against those held culpable.
Mr. Karat said the government should now act against not only those against whom cases were booked, but all those named as culpable in the report.
U.S. links
Speaking at an interactive session later in the evening, Mr. Karat was scathing on the Indian government’s deepening links with the United States, which had a bearing on our domestic policy, in tune with the demands of the global market.
He dismissed the Indian government’s aspiration ‘to sit at the high table with the US as a global power was ridiculous, “because in reality, India was only ‘sitting at a small stool by the high table.” He said that a country that has the largest number of absolute poor in the world could hardly lay claim to be a global power.
In its second edition in power, the Congress government was continuing with the neo-liberal policies and deepening its ties with the United States, said Mr. Karat. Opening of the defence industry, “a big cake,” was a crucial demand of the American defence companies, he added.
The Congress government was adhering to its old formula of facilitating “state-sponsored growth of big businesses and monopoly houses,” while allowing for some safety nets such as NREGA to offset public discontentment, said Mr. Karat. He pointed out that the top 10 companies in India had tripled their assets during the UPA rule from Rs. 3.5 lakh crore to Rs. 10 lakh crore.
