CPI(M) today charged Congress and BJP with pursuing "disastrous" economic policies that have intensified inequalities and led to unprecedented corruption, as it announced holding of long marches criss-crossing the country to project "alternative policies".
The marches (jathas) from Kanyakumari, Kolkata, Mumbai and Amritsar, which would be joined by smaller marches from Guwahati, Shimla, Bhavnagar (Gujarat) and Paralakhemundi (Odisha), would culminate in a rally in Delhi on March 19 after covering about 10,000 kms, CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat told a press conference here.
The issues to be highlighted during the three-week-long campaign, to be led by all top leaders of the party in various states, would include the right to land and housing, right to food, curbing of price rise, universal public distribution system, right to education, health and employment, ensuring social justice, women's rights and ending corruption, he said.
"The policies of the UPA government at the Centre and in Congress and BJP-ruled states have resulted in continuous price rise, agrarian distress, growing unemployment and massive corruption. There is no difference between Congress and BJP as far as their basic policies are concerned," Karat alleged.
He said alternative policies of CPI(M) and the Left parties would be brought to focus during the jathas, which would also include holding series of roadshows and public meetings along every route from where the marches would pass.
"In the current national political scenario, it has become necessary to project CPI(M) and the Left alternative," Karat said.
The jathas would also call for people's unity to struggle for their basic rights, against communalism and to demand a reversal of the "disastrous" economic policies being followed by both Congress and BJP, he said.
