Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State unit secretary Pinarayi Vijayan has criticised the State government for the ‘the steep hike in taxes’ and warned of agitations against the ‘anti-people steps’ till they are withdrawn.
Speaking to media persons here on Wednesday, Mr. Vijayan said the current financial crunch faced by the State was the result of gross financial mismanagement by the United Democratic Front (UDF) government and added that the Opposition would not allow the government to pass on the burden of this negligence to the people.
He called for a White Paper on the financial situation in the State.
To a question, Mr. Vijayan said that the decision on the new liquor policy was taken unilaterally, without any discussions with the leaders of various political parties. “Neither was the issue placed for the consideration of the Legislature,” he said. He alleged that the government had failed to anticipate the repercussions of the new liquor policy.
Later, speaking at a seminar on Challenges to Secularism organised in the run up to the general council meet of the Centre for Indian Trade Unions here, Mr. Vijayan dubbed the tax hike as a ‘Rs.5,000 crore Onam present from the Chief Minister.’ He said such major change in tax structure should have been taken up during the presentation of the annual budget.
Mr. Vijayan said the rise of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and their Hindutva ideology was posing a major challenge to secularism in the country in general and to Kerala in particular. The Sangh Parivar was trying to infiltrate various social organisations that had spearheaded the social changes during the last century.
He came down on the Church hierarchy who had dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as an embodiment of development.
