The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre is trying to divide people in the name of the National Register of Citizens of India and the National Population Register as it cannot honour its electoral commitment to the voters, CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Nilotpal Basu has alleged.
He was opening the golden jubilee celebrations of Calicut University Employees’ Union, a pro-Left service organisation, on the university campus on Monday.
“….Those who support the government always talk about the problems of soldiers who serve on the border. But a report of the Comptroller and Auditor General says there is 83% reduction in the nutritional and calorific levels of our soldiers. The government has no money [to spend on them],” Mr. Basu said. However, it could set aside ₹600 crore to provide security to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he alleged.
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The CPI(M) leader accused the Centre of “breaking all constitutional and legal provisions” on a daily basis.
“At a meeting of State Police Chiefs, the Prime Minister and the Home Minister are reported to have asked them to penetrate into the social media accounts of students to know what they are thinking. This is happening at a time when there is no action against those who brutally attacked students on the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus. Even 51 days after the incident, there had been no arrests or filing of First Information Report,” Mr. Basu said.
“We thought our younger generation was apolitical. But on the question of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, we saw thousands hitting the streets.... There were protests even on campuses such as St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi, and St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata, which had no history of students’ movements.” Students and teachers had come out even in Indian Institutes of Management and Indian Institutes of Technology.
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Mr. Basu said there had been an assault on education, coupled with the high rate of unemployment. “The problem is not with money, but attitude. The government is spending only 3% of the Gross Domestic Product on education. Countries relatively smaller than India are spending more,” he added.