Left parties dub interim budget as poll-oriented

February 17, 2014 04:48 pm | Updated May 18, 2016 08:53 am IST - New Delhi

In a reaction to the interim budget presented today, the left parties castigate it as poll-oriented. A file picture of leaders of Left parties at a convention in New Delhi. Photo: V. Sudershan.

In a reaction to the interim budget presented today, the left parties castigate it as poll-oriented. A file picture of leaders of Left parties at a convention in New Delhi. Photo: V. Sudershan.

Left parties on Monday lambasted the UPA government for slashing spending on social and infrastructure sectors, not collecting over Rs five lakh crore in taxes and making a “political statement” aimed at the upcoming elections.

“Finance Minister Chidambaram has left the hard work of getting the economy back on rails to the next Finance Minister. Clearly, he is not going to come back (to government),” senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters in New Delhi.

Due to the policies of liberalisation pursued by the government, “economic slowdown and the crisis facing the Indian economy will be further compounded. This is not due to any policy paralysis.

“It is precisely due to the policy of appeasing international finance capital at the expense of undermining India’s domestic economic fundamentals and imposing greater burden on the people,” Mr. Yechury said.

Maintaining that this was happening at a time when global economy was “tottering and shrinking”, he said in such a situation, the only foreign capital that would come in would be speculative capital.

Hitting out at Mr. Chidambaram for not tabling a statement on tax foregone, “a practice started by (his predecessor) Pranab Mukherjee”, Mr. Yechury said in December 2012, the amount of tax not recovered stood at Rs 4.82 lakh crore. It went up to Rs 5.10 lakh crore in December 2013.

“It shows there is no dearth of resources in the country. Had this money, a legitimate source of government earnings, been collected, then so much of infrastructure could have been created, jobs generated, incomes would have grown and hence the demand. That would have, in turn, led to a spurt in manufacturing and economic activity,” the CPI(M) leader said.

CPI leaders D Raja and Gurudas Dasgupta also castigated the government for slashing subsidy on food and fertilisers. .

“The economy is in deep crisis and it is going to be challenging for any government that comes after the election.”

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.