Terming the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) as a platform of all the communal and caste forces in the State, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat has said that the Left forces wherever they ruled have taken a firm stand to defend secularism.
Addressing an election rally of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) at Pappinissery here on Friday, Mr. Karat has said that the capitulation of the Congress-led UDF to the communal and caste forces would create divisions in the society and would hamper its progress. A renewed mandate of the LDF in the State was important not only for the people of the State but also for the entire country, he said stating that in the Left parties were going to the people of West Bengal and Kerala with their alternative policies and platform. The neo-liberal policies being pursued by the successive governments at the Centre had produced economic growth that was benefiting a few. The country was now witnessing the fastest growth rate of billionaires, while working people’s conditions were not improving.
The CPI(M) general secretary said that the outcomes of the neo-liberal policies in the country included cases of large number suicide by farmers, growing unemployment, relentless price rise. Not only had the policies of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government failed to curb price rise, but its policies were also contributing to it. The UPA government was cutting subsidies in food, fertilizers and petroleum products, he said adding that the government had now announced to decontrol the price of diesel as well.
The UPA was encouraging big multinational companies to speculate in futures market to allow them to make huge profit. The only relief the people could have in such a difficult condition was from a good public distribution system (PDS), he said. The UPA government, however, was pursuing a policy of restricting the PDS, he pointed out.
Mr. Karat said that one of the important steps taken by the LDF government in the State was to reject this policy of restricting the PDS. The government extended the coverage of the below poverty line families and brought 40 lakh families under the scheme to distribute rice at Rs. 2 per kg which would be implemented when the LDF was elected to power.
The CPI(M) leader also said that massive corruption was also the hallmark of the Congress-led government at the Centre. Referring to the 2-G spectrum scandal and Commonwealth Games corruption scam he said that the neo-liberal policies had institutionalised corruption.
Stating that the Congress was still denying that there was corruption in the 2-G spectrum allocation, he alleged that the Congress and Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam were partners in corruption. “They have perfected the art of making money out of every policy and every department,” he said.
The record of the LDF government in the State stood in sharp contrast, Mr. Karat said. The V.S. Achuthanandan-led government was not only non-corrupt but had also acted firmly against the corrupt, he said adding that the people of the State would not forget the corruption scandals during the previous UDF governments. One of its Ministers was now in jail in connection with a corruption case, he noted. The previous UDF governments led to disparities, unemployment and price rise, he said.
Apart from strengthening the PDS, the LDF government had helped farmers, successfully revived public sector companies and started new ones and taken major steps to extend social welfare measures.
LDF candidate in the Azhikode constituency M. Prakashan and CPI(M) district secretary P. Jayarajan were among those present at the rally.
