Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat has accused the Congress government in Rajasthan of working against the interests of the poor and trying to defeat the objectives of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The villagers, Mr. Karat said, were not getting work for the stipulated 100 days and the minimum wages.
“We suspect that the Congress is conspiring to ensure the failure of the flagship scheme, which was introduced during the UPA government’s first tenure after much pressure from the Left parties,” he said at the party’s ‘Parivartan’ rally here on Friday.
Likewise, the Forest Rights Act was being “deliberately flouted” in the State as reports emerged that tribal people were driven out of their land, he said. “At Gogunda, a large number of people were sent to jail when they demanded land rights. This is outrageous and objectionable.”
Charging the Congress and the BJP with pursuing a “similar agenda of exploitation of natural resources, promoting corruption and encouraging capitalists,” Mr. Karat said the CPI(M) would present a “viable alternative” in the State, as it had a record of a prolonged struggle to highlight people’s issues.
Food Security Bill
He said the Left parties would put pressure on the UPA government in the budget session of Parliament. “We will demand the passage of the Food Security Bill as well as the introduction of the universal public distribution system.”
