TMC's 2009 manifesto advoacated FDI in retail
By 4 pm it was taken off the website
Till 3.30 pm on September 20, the Trinamool Congress’ website had its 2009 Lok sabha election manifesto stating “The entry of large domestic and foreign capital in retail trade will occur.” By 4 pm it was taken off the website. Both the West Bengal state Congress as well as the Left Front in the state took the TMC to task, over its “double speak and hypocrisy.” The TMC however alleges it as “falsehood” being spread by its opponents.
One of the major reasons for the TMC pull out from the Congress was its stiff opposition to FDI in multi-brand retail with TMC chief Mamata Banerjee alleging that UPA was “selling the country” by pushing through FDI in multi- brand retail.
In a section titled “What the Trinamool Congress wants, at a glance,” point 42 on Page 81 reads: “The entry of large domestic and foreign capital in retail trade will occur.”
Pointing out this glaring anomaly WBPCC chief Pradip Bhattacharya said “In its 2009 Lok Sabha election manifesto, Trinamool had underlined the need for FDI, but now they are opposing it. Trinamool’s support to FDI was clearly mentioned in paragraph 42.”
Biman Bose, chairman of the State Left Front Committee also hit out at Banerjee for this doublespeak saying “That there is no consistency between what she [Banerjee] says and what she does has become clear from the election manifesto itself,” Bose said.
This however caused immense embarrassment to the TMC and the document was removed from the party’s official website within half an hour.
The TMC however denies the whole issue and alleges that it is one of the many falsehoods of those opposed to the TMC.
TMC MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar said, “This is absolutely false. In the Assembly in 2007 itself we had talked of bringing in a law to keep out foreign investors from retail.”