Left parties stage rallies, caution UPA govt

Left parties today staged nationwide demonstrations against some of the recent economic policy decisions of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

This was the biggest protest by the Left since the UPA came to power at the Centre. Workers of the Left parties""the CPI(M), the CPI, the RSP and the Forward Bloc""took to the streets shouting slogans against government decisions.

Demonstrations were held in cities across the country to protest the hike in the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit from 49 per cent to 74 per cent in the telecom sector.

While asking for a reversal of the decision, the Left parties also criticised the government for not conducting a satisfactory review of the Electricity Act 2003, a commitment made in the national common minimum programme.

"We wanted to go to the people with our issues. These protests will be intensified both outside and inside Parliament," CPI(M) member of Parliament Dipankar Mukherjee said.

Reiterating the stand, D Raja of the CPI said: "The government must reconsider its decisions."

Claiming that the decisions by the Centre were "detrimental" to India's economic sovereignty, Raja said: "The purpose of the protests is to express our strong disapproval of the policies being announced by the government."

Accusing the UPA government of deviating from the common minimum pro-gramme, Raja said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia "must realise that they are not living in the 90s and the situation is quite different now."

Refuting allegations that there was an understanding between the Left parties and the UPA over the FDI in the telecom sector, Raja said: "The matter is in discussion phase and there was no consensus" and the government couldn't unilaterally announce it before sorting out their concerns.

Several policy decisions of the Congress-led government have come under fire from the Left, which is lending outside support to the UPA government.

Left leaders said this was just the beginning of various protest to be staged by trade unions. "Mass organisations affiliated to Left parties as well as others will be protesting the amendment to the Patents Act on February 26," Mukherjee said.

The other decisions that the Left protest today were creeping acquisition by foreign banks in Indian private banks and disinvestment of profit-making public sector undertakings such as Bharat Heavy Electrical Ltd and Maruti Udyog Ltd.

"These policies pose great threat to the economic sovereignty and development of the nation. This needs to be resisted," said a senior Left leader.

This is the second time since the row over the petrol price hike that the Left parties have taken to the streets.

The Left seems to be having its say with the government. First, it had convinced the government to keep fuel prices untouched.

Second, it stalled the proposed gradual increase in the price of LPG. Third, the Left made sure that the government raised the employees provident fund interest rate to 9.5 per cent.

The Left will also be placing its demands before UPA chairperson and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.