The Communist Party of India (Marxist) will press for consensus among all political parties on allowing the Foreign Direct Investment in multi brand retail, while it might let Parliament function smoothly if Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee gives an assurance, at Wednesday's all-party meeting, that it will be held back.
Making it clear that the party was totally opposed to FDI in retail, Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury told journalists here on Tuesday that the government must obtain consensus even if it proposed to implement it at a later date.
The government, instead of getting back to the Opposition, as promised earlier, had unilaterally announced the Cabinet decision while Parliament was in session. This was not the tradition, he said.
It should ideally speak to the political parties and all stakeholders before making a commitment. After agriculture, retail business contributed the largest percentage (12% ) to the country's GDP, while supporting five crore families or a fourth of India's population.
Mr. Yechury pointed out that in 2004, P. Chidambaram, the then Finance Minister, proposed FDI in retail but due to Left Opposition, the move was put on the back burner. He said the special interest being shown by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in getting the FDI in multi brand retail was the outcome of an alleged ‘secret' promise given to U.S. President Barack Obama during his visit to Bali, Indonesia, recently.
Third alternative
Blaming the Bharatiya Janata Party for following similar economic policies that were not in the interest of the people, Mr. Yechury said it was time socialism prevailed once again in the country with a ‘third alternative' force emerging. The neo-liberalisation policies being followed has led to a slowdown of the growth rate from the expected 9 per cent to 6.5, though the Government claimed that it was 7.5 per cent for the current fiscal.
