Modi's not a 'pro-people' govt, people won't buy claims: CPI

BJP will not be able to convince the public that Prime Minister Narendra Modi led a "pro- people" government in his first year in office, CPI today said while claiming that the ruling party does not have "many things to popularise" in terms of its performance.
While slamming BJP for launching a campaign to promote the programmes and works undertaken by the NDA government during its first year at the Centre, CPI also countered claims that the Modi dispensation has eliminated corruption from the corridors of power in Delhi.
"BJP is saying 'we more or less (have) finished corruption (in the country)'. I don't agree with it. Yesterday, some media published international surveys which said India is one of the most corrupt countries.

"And the survey was done by corporate and business people, not the common people. So, corruption is prevailing and nothing (has) changed during this period," said CPI General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy.
He appealed to BJP leaders to "show guts" and come out against the "wrong" policies of Prime Minister Modi.
"BJP organising conventions on the occasion of the first anniversary of the NDA government is no surprise. Naturally, any government, any party, will try to popularise them. But the thing is that they don't have many things to popularise.

"I don't think they can convince the people that it was a pro-people's government," Reddy said on the sidelines of CPI's two-day National Executive meeting, the first such exercise following its 22nd Congress earlier in March.

The Centre's decision to reduce income tax for the highest slab and the abolition of wealth tax and "anti-labour" and "anti-farmer" measures are "enough proof" that the BJP-led government is not for the common people, but for the "rich", Reddy further averred.
Meanwhile, referring to the swearing in of AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa as the Tamil Nadu chief minister following her acquittal in a disproportionate assets case, Reddy said she should have waited instead of "rushing" to take charge in the hot seat as the matter was likely to go to Supreme Court.