The Hindu Business Line : Left parties not against reforms, says Bardhan

THE Communist Party of India (CPI) General Secretary, Mr A.B. Bardhan, has said that the Left parties are not against economic reforms. On the contrary, they want reforms, but their sole objective is to ensure that they were based on socio-economic realities.

Inaugurating a seminar on `Employment and economic growth' organised by the Observer Research Foundation here on Tuesday, Mr Bardhan sought to make it clear that the Left parties were not obsessed with public sector undertakings (PSUs) as was being made out to be.

The CPI, he said, had no objection to the disinvestment of unmanageable PSUs. At the same time, it was against the indiscriminate privatisation of all PSUs, he said.

Attacking the lobbies, which painted the Left as anti-reform parties, Mr Bardhan said: "We are the people who wanted revolution in the country. Then how can we be against reforms?" He said that although growth was absolutely essential for the progress of the country, "we are against jobless growth, which is anti-national."

Clarifying likewise, on what he called the misconceptions about the economic policies of the Left parties, Mr Bardhan said that they were not against either foreign direct investment (FDI) or high technologies as was being made out by the media. But, he said, the Left parties were very clear that FDI should be allowed only in certain sectors and under certain conditions.

Noting that unemployment was growing in the country, Mr Bardhan warned that joblessness among the youth was giving rise to militancy, terrorism and other anti-national movements.

The CPI General Secretary also stressed the need for giving top priority to agriculture, small-scale industries (SSIs) and other traditional sectors. In this regard, he criticised the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, for removing nearly 90 items from the reserved list of the small sector in this year's Union Budget.