The Hindu : New Delhi News : Forward Bloc rally against Centre

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Dec 09, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Forward Bloc rally against Centre

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, DEC. 8. The All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) took out a massive rally from Ramlila grounds to Parliament Street here today in protest against "unimpressive performance" of the United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre and "to demand speedy implementation of the pro-people commitment of the Common Minimum Programme".

It also said that it would have to do a rethink on cooperating with the Coordination Committee of the UPA Government if it continued to pursue the economic policies of the previous NDA Government.

Addressing the gathering, the AIFB general secretary, Debabrata Biswas, said: "The UPA Government is not serious about implementing the CMP. The Manmohan Singh Government is not prepared to hear the views and opinion of the Left parties. They are still trying to implement the programmes of the World Bank, IMF and WTO. There is no point in sitting in the Coordination Committee if the Government was not serious about the CMP.''

Mr. Biswas said though the Bharatiya Janata Party was defeated in the general election, the forces of communalism were still active. "We will fight against communalism through this rally and from January 23 our supporters will launch a movement in different towns of the country against the degeneration of moral values due to invasion of Western culture.''

Criticising the previous NDA Government of "dismantling the public sector'', the general secretary of the Karnataka unit of AIFB, G.R. Shivshankar, said: "We will pursue the real dream of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and stop the UPA Government from pursuing policies which are against the interest of the working class. The future lies in uniting the working class and peasant and fulfilling the dream of Netaji."

Reminding the gathering that it was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose who founded the AIFB, he said: "We have to tread on the path shown by Netaji so that the entire country knows that the party founded by him was alive and pursuing policies close to his heart.''

A large number workers and farmers from different States attended the rally.

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