The CPI(M) has termed the recent decisions by the government to remove the FDI cap in several sectors as “unilateral”. Party general secretary told reporters here on Tuesday that such decisions are taken ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visits to foreign countries.

Yechury said even the Cabinet was bypassed while taking the decisions. “All these decisions have been taken on the eve of the winter session of the Parliament. Worse they have been taken even without the Cabinet approval. This is a complete travesty of our system of parliamentary democracy. PM Modi made these announcements with an aim to appease foreign capital prior to his foreign visits,” Yechury said.

The Rajya Sabha member added that the decisions will result in further economic burdens on the people. “This license to loot for foreign capital comes at a time when the majority of the Indian people continue to groan under newer economic burdens. Price rise of essential commodities continues unabated. The prices of pulses have risen beyond their reach. The prices of all other essential commodities continue to rise,” he added.

Yechury said the Bihar Assembly election result was a big setback to the BJP. “This Bihar verdict should strengthen the fight against the rightwing communal forces all over the country,” he hoped. He said “intolerance” is a wrong word to address the recent violent incidents. “It is bordering terror. Now they have issued a death warrant against (eminent actor and theatre person) Girish Karnad,” he said.

The central committee of the CPI(M) was in session to draft a report for the organisational plenum to be held in Kolkata in December. He said the plenum will discuss measures to rejuvenate the CPI(M) at organisational and political levels.

Yechury added that the agrarian distress is deepening. “The announced MSP increases are so meagre that they do not even cover the production costs. This is accelerating the distress suicides of our farmers,” he said and added: “The latest data of the government shows that compared to a 6.4 per cent growth rate last month the index of industrial production has now fallen to 3.6 per cent. Consequently, the growth rate of the manufacturing sector, the main generator of jobs, has fallen from 6.9 per cent to 2.6 per cent. Appeasing foreign capital under these conditions cannot translate automatically into GDP growth. This is because the purchasing power in the hands of the Indian people is sharply declining, leading to the contraction of domestic demand.”

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