Karat for strengthening Left unity

Insisting that only the Left had an alternative to the "anti-people" policies of the Centre, CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat on Sunday advocated greater Left unity in building up a country-wide campaign against price rise, unemployment and the plight of farmers.

“We will build up a country-wide campaign against price rise, unemployment and the plight of the farmers and workers. Only the Left parties have alternative policies against the anti-people policies of the Centre. We will work in building up a popular Left unity. We will move forward by uniting all Left parties,” Karat told a CPI(M) rally here.

The rally was the first after the defeat of the Left Front in West Bengal for the first time in 34 years.

Referring to the unprecedented price rise, he said food inflation had remained sky-high for 38 months and alleged that the government had surpassed all records of corruption.

“The government is responsible for the price rise. Since the decontrol of petrol and diesel prices, these have seen 15 upward revisions. The prices have not been increased for the past two months because of the Assembly elections in five states. The prices will rise again after March 1,” he said.

Describing the 2G scam as the biggest example of corruption, Karat said the Supreme Court had ordered cancellation of licenses of 122 telecom companies.

“But this government is shameless. It insists that no bribe has been paid and there has been no loss to the exchequer,” Karat said, adding, “The rich and corporates have been given an open licence to loot the country.”

Claiming only the Left-ruled states have been free from corruption charges, he alleged that such charges have surfaced against all others, be it Congress or BJP ruled states.

He said the proposed Food Security Act would not be able to protect the security of food. “The Left Front government in West Bengal had tried to implement universal rationing system. We will campaign for it.”