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Five Left parties will hold a joint convention here on September 20 to demand that the Centre increase the public investment. The convention will plan protests and seek alternatives to address the “deepening economic crisis and growing misery of the people”.
A joint statement by CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML), All India Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party said the convention will draw up concrete plans for protests all over the country. They have appealed to all democratic forces to join the protests.
The statement said that the measures announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, amounting over ₹ 70,000 crore, are far from providing relief and will further deepen the crisis. “What is required is increasing public investment and build our much-needed infrastructure while generating jobs and increasing people’s purchasing power,” the statement said.
Yechury hits out
CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said in a Facebook post that the announcements made by Sitharaman are akin to rubbing salt on people’s wounds. “This severe economic slowdown was caused by the Modi government’s relentless push for private investments and promotion of exports. Now, more of the same are announced as a solution!” “Instead of announcing big public investments to build infrastructure and generate jobs, the same discredited prescription is offered as a solution. A slew of concessions are being offered to boost house construction, including relaxing external commercial borrowing and lowering taxes.... However, houses remain unsold as people have no money. Mega shopping festivals are a cruel joke when there’s no money to buy!” he added.
He noted that exports are drastically shrinking and measures to boost with a revenue foregone of ₹ 50,000 crore will do little when the global trade is shrinking. “These measures will neither lead to an economic recovery nor provide the much-needed relief to the people,” the CPI(M) General Secretary said.
Meanwhile, the Congress urged the Centre to exit the denial mode and admit that there is an economic crisis. The party said unemployment has increased and the Ministers should stop issuing frivolous comments about the situation. “The government had promised that they will create two crore jobs each year. Forget about creating new jobs, crores of employed people are losing jobs,” Congress spokesperson Rajiv Shukla told reporters here on Monday. The party had decided to hit the streets in October against the Centre’s economic policies.
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