Describing demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime as twin monsters unleashed by the Union government, CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury charged that the Centre had inflicted a four-pronged attack on the people.
“These include the economic burdens imposed on the people in an unprecedented manner and more aggressively than the previous UPA government, sharpening of communal polarisation as well as attacks on Muslims and Dalits, undermining of constitutional authorities like the Election Commission and the Reserve Bank of India and surrendering the country to diktats of the United States’ imperialism,” he said.
Mr. Yechury was speaking at a meeting organised by the party to commemorate the 200th birth anniversary of Karl Marx and the centenary celebrations of the Russian revolution here on Sunday evening.
Explaining how the constitutional authorities were being weakened by the Union government, he pointed out, as an example, how the RBI was bypassed in the demonetisation exercise.
“Eventually, not even a single objective of demonetisation was attained. Rather, it became the biggest money laundering process India had ever seen. All black money got converted into white money and the banks are now paying interest on that cash inflow,” he claimed.
Even the counterfeit currencies became legal and corruption had doubled, he claimed.
‘Industries reeling’
Mr. Yechury said industrial clusters such as Tirupur were ruined as every economic policy of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a cascading effect on the unorganised, informal sectors.
He took a dig at Mr. Modi’s ‘ Mann ki baat ’ speech in which the latter had spoken elaborately on Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
“Why did he speak only [about] things that everyone knew and avoid telling what Patel did — banning the RSS after Gandhiji’s assassination? The communiqué that Mr. Patel drafted said that the cult of violence sponsored by the Sangh had killed many innocent people including Gandhiji,” he said.
The CPI (M) leader questioned whether Mr. Modi had the courage to ban the cow protection gangs in the BJP-ruled States. He went on to explain how Marx’s principles were useful even today.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Yechury inspected the ‘red volunteers’ march taken out in the city. He also released books on Karl Marx.
