The Hindu : National : 'Stability depends on sincerity to CMP'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 20, 2004

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National

'Stability depends on sincerity to CMP'

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. Sept. 19. The stability of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government depends on its sincerity in implementing the Common Minimum Programme (CMP), the CPI (M) Polit Bureau member, Sitaram Yechury, said, today.

Speaking at the All-India Professional Students' Convention, organised by the Students' Federation of India (SFI), he said the Government could not survive a single day without the Left's support.

He said that the SFI's demand for a Central legislation on admissions to professional colleges was welcome. It was imperative that social control was effected over institutions which had adopted a "mercenary approach" towards education. The MPs of the Left parties would exert pressure on the Government for a legislation based on the Model Act for Government control over private educational institutions brought out by the SFI, he said.

He said that though the CMP was not a Left programme, the Left parties had endorsed its programmes which, if implemented, would put the economic reforms on a pro-people path. The Left's basic agenda was about the thrust of the reforms as it was the character of the reforms that was important and not the process.

"If reforms are pro-people, we are pro-reform. If the economic reforms are pro-capitalist, then we are anti-reform. A lot people have been using canine phraseology these days, asking us if we will only bark or will also bite. It is not a question of a single Left leader barking or biting. If the Government sincerely implements the CMP, we will continue to support it. If it violates the CMP then we will mount pressure on the Government to reverse such actions," Mr. Yechury said. The pressure would not be just about discussions with the Prime Minister but would also be about organising people's struggles against such decisions.

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