The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : It is a capitalist plan, says Bardhan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 12, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

It is a capitalist plan, says Bardhan

Staff Reporter

Banks are under constant threat of being privatised: CPI leader

TALKING TOUGH: CPI General Secretary A.B. Bardhan (centre), P.R. Karanth, secretary of KPBEF, and Manjunath, organising secretary, KPBEF, at a function organised on the occasion of the diamond jubilee celebrations of the All-India Bank Employees' Ass ociation, in Bangalore on Saturday. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

BANGALORE: General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) A.B. Bardhan on Saturday charged that attempts for disinvestment in public sector banks and their subsequent privatisation was the plan of capitalists and warned that nationalised banks were under the constant threat of being privatised.

Mr. Bardhan was delivering a talk on `Disinvestment and privatisation in the banking industry - task of trade unions' on the occasion of the diamond jubilee celebrations of the All-India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) organised by the Karnataka Pradesh Bank Employees' Federation (KPBEF) here.

The Government was going slow (on privatisation) as it was aware of the strength of AIBEA, Mr. Bardhan said. He noted that a strike by AIBEA could bring the economy to a halt. However, he cautioned: "Let us not be complacent. The aim of the Government is disinvestment."

He charged that capitalists who owned banks before nationalisation and exploited depositors' money were behind the move on disinvestment. Though the non-performing assets of PSU banks touched Rs. 1 lakh crore thanks to capitalists, they were still regarded creditworthy, he said.

Pointing out that PSU banks did not open even one branch in rural areas in the last two years, Mr. Bardhan said many banks had closed their branches in rural areas saying they were not viable. While the priority-lending concept had almost vanished, no serious attempts were made to reduce the NPA, he regretted.

Brushing aside the stand of the Government that PSUs would remain what they were as the Government retained 51 per cent stake, Mr. Bardhan said that removal of the cap on voting rights (earlier restricted to 10 per cent) would lead to virtual privatisation of PSUs. On the Government's defence that the amount got from disinvestment would be used for social security schemes, Mr. Bardhan asked whether the Government was not receiving budgetary revenue.

He said: "This Government is pursuing disinvestment because it does not believe in PSUs, which strengthened the country when no private player invested in infrastructure." Accusing the Government of towing the western line, Mr. Bardhan urged the members to resist the Government's pro-capitalist moves. "We (the Leftists) are only 66 and cannot mount such a pressure on the Government," he conceded.

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