West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday lambasted UPA-II for notifying FDI in retail. Borrowing from the Dominique Lapierre-Larry Collins book Freedom at Midnight , Banerjee’s late night outburst called the Centre’s decision “shocking at midnight” and the Government a “minority Government”.
“I have just come to know through the media that the Central Government has notified FDI in retail today…Shocking at midnight,” she wrote on her midnight post on Facebook..
Contesting the Centre’s decision, Banerjee questioned: “Is it ethical, moral and democratic for a minority Government to issue a Government order forcefully and hurriedly, when massive protests against it are taking place across the country?”
Reiterating that the “minority Government” at the Centre was undemocratic, Banerjee’s Facebook post questioned Centre’s hastiness in notifying FDI in retail.
According to her, the actions of the Centre - especially when an assurance was given by the former Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee at the Lok Sabha that there was need for a consensus - defy democratic traditions.
“It is not understandable as to what has prompted the present minority Government to take a hurried decision on such an important issue which touches the livelihood of millions of common people,” she wrote.
Miffed over the decisions of the diesel price hike, restrictions on the number of subsidised cooking gas cylinders for households and retail FDI, the Trinamool Congress supremo had on Tuesday announced her party’s decision to withdraw support to the UPA.
Meanwhile, continuing her tirade against the Centre, Banerjee said at a public meeting at Thakurnagar in North 24 Parganas district of the State on Friday that under no circumstance would FDI in multi-brand retail be allowed.
According to her, FDI in multi-brand retail will snatch away the livelihoods of thousands of people, farmers and those engaged in small businesses.
"Everything will be taken away. Will you swallow this or fight? “Whether you cultivate chilli or not will be decided by the foreign majors. New shopping malls will come up. Even what you eat will be dictated by these foreign companies,” she said.