UPA policies caused agrarian crisis in India, alleges Kodiyeri

Says Rahul’s candidature increases confidence of LDF

Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has said that the liberalisation policies of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was the major reason for the crisis in the agrarian sector.

Addressing media persons here on Tuesday, Mr. Balakrishnan said Wayanad was known as the land of spices but the neo-liberalisation policies of the UPA made the district a graveyard of farmers.

The farming community had got better prices for produces like pepper, ginger, and coffee in the domestic market . But the policies and trade agreements like the ASEAN trade agreement and the Indo-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA) caused a huge import and led to sharp price decline.

Corporatisation

It also paved the way for farmer crisis and farmer suicides in the district. Those policies had also caused corporatisation of the agriculture sector of the country, he said.

As a national leader of the Congress, Rahul Gandhi may get media attention in the constituency, but his candidature had increased the self-confidence of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) as every election in the constituency, since its inception in 2009, the vote margin of Congress was declining.

The number of communist party members was very low in the constituency where Mr. Gandhi had contested earlier, Mr. Balakrishnan said, adding that in Wayanad, Mr. Gandhi would perceive the power of communist party members and its organisational set-up.