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| Farmers, Left parties stage rallies |
| BS Reporter / New Delhi Sep 04, 2009, 02:00 IST |
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Jantar Mantar area — the national capital’s protest platform — today saw the flavour of the day in anti-WTO rallies. From Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) blocking one side of the road to the Left’s protest rally choking a large part of Parliament Street, various interest groups launched their protests coinciding with the informal ministerial meet on international trade talks with 37 countries, hosted by the UPA government.
The BKU, which managed the biggest gathering against the WTO talks today, demanded the government should keep out agricultural items from the negotiations. Farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and other parts of India thronged the streets, while their family members took rest in the footpaths.
The Left parties — CPI(M), CPI and CPI(ML) — came together again after their electoral alliance in the Lok Sabha elections. CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury termed the ongoing Delhi meet as the “dhokha round” (round of deceit) after the failed talks at the Doha Round of the WTO summit.
“At this time of recession, the UPA wants to protect the interest of western countries by allowing duty-free import of its goods in India. Already, 200,000 farmers have committed suicide,” Yechury told the crowd.
The CPI(M), which managed to get just 16 seats in the Lok Sabha elections after crying foul over the Manmohan Singh government’s “neo-liberal economic policies”, today “warned” the UPA-2 that people of India would topple the government if it went ahead and sign the deal with the WTO. The CPI(ML) general secretary levelled charges that while other countries were trying to protect their own farmers and businesses, they were putting pressure on India to buy their goods. CPI leader D Raja suggested the government should concentrate on checking price rise rather than negotiating with the WTO.
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