Bangalore, Feb 12: Despite the UPA government "violating" the common minimum programme in respect of foreign and economic policies, the left parties would let the
Congress-led coalition complete its five-year term as mid-term poll was not a solution, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan said today.
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In an interview, Bardhan said both in matters of foreign and economic policies, the Left Parties felt that the UPA government has violated the CMP.
"We are very much offended by that," he said.
Asked if the Left Parties felt that the Congress takes heir support for granted, he said: "It`s true. Because people have a feeling that we (Left Parties) oppose, we protest, we also make statements, ask them to stop what they are doing. But they (Congress) go ahead. They do not listen (to us)".
He said the Left Parties would put pressure on the government to follow the CMP in letter and spirit. "We want the pressure to be sufficiently powerful".
Bardhan said the Left would let the government continue its full term. "We will keep it under pressure whenever it does something wrong, according to us, not in the interest of people or the country at large.... Whenever it violates the CMP".
When it was pointed out that the Congress was not listening to the Left Parties and the latter, therefore, had a limit to what they could do, Bardhan observed: "that`s the way democracies are run. Otherwise, you can everyday pull it down. What`s the point? Any government that does not have a majority on its own can be pulled down at any time. But that is not the way we want to play the game".
Bardhan stoutly defended the Left Parties` opposition to FDI in the retail, even while China is aggressively wooing foreign investment in this sector.
"China has its problems", he said. "There is a lot of discontent growing in rural areas. The west of China has been neglected in comparison to development in the East. (but) China is capable of at least facing these problems. What are we (India) capable of, I would like to know. People starve when they are thrown out jobs. China has a plan to sustain those people for some time. We don`t have any such plans".
"Moreover, China has brought in FDI only after they have fully utilised domestic resources for their development. Are we (India) doing that? Our domestic investment is much less".
On Toyota Kirloskar Motor on the city outskirts dismissing three workers, he said the Left Parties want the management to take them back. He noted that unions were seeking to put pressure on the company by adopting a step-by-step approach.
He said "when workers of the Honda factory at Gurgaon were thrown out, what we were fighting for was that the management take them back. We succeeded".
"Strike is one of the instruments (if TKM does not take back the three workers", the CPI leader said.
Bureau Report
