The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : CPI (M) to continue opposition to financial sector reforms

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Wednesday, Feb 06, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

CPI (M) to continue opposition to financial sector reforms

Special Correspondent

They will lead to loss of economic sovereignty of the country: Yechuri

— Photo: K. Ananthan

WARM greeting: Insurance employees greet CPI (M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechuri as he arrives to address them in Coimbatore on Tuesday.

Coimbatore: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) will continue to oppose financial sector reforms, including privatisation of pension funds and insurance, as that will lead to loss of economic sovereignty of the country, Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechuri said on Tuesday.

“Once economic sovereignty is lost, the loss of political sovereignty will not take too long”, Mr. Yechuri said here. “We will oppose these reforms because they are not in the interest of the people” and would lead to “economic recolonisation,” he said.

Addressing a meeting organised by the All India Insurance Employees’ Association on the challenges in financial sector reforms, he explained how pressure on the developing countries such as India was mounted by the “international financial capital” in the name of globalisation. That was “to access the savings of our people, which are meant for building and improving our infrastructure, for speculative purposes and maximising their profits.”

Under globalisation, whose objective was nothing but maximising profits, the character of economic growth itself had changed.

He remarked that economic growth was not necessarily leading to generation of employment, as it preached reduction in workforce to maximise profits. Hence, employment did not keep pace with economic growth.

Automatically the purchasing power of a substantial segment of the population got reduced. This resulted in widening of inequalities. “Thus a contradictory economic process has been set in motion”.

Insurance sector

Mr.Yechuri said the insurance sector had been the “single largest contributor” to all the Five Year Plans in India. But the current United Progressive Alliance Government was bent on enhancing the foreign investment in insurance sector to 49 per cent from the current 24 per cent and privatising pension fund. “ But we have stopped it and we will stop it.” Even the very move to merge banks was to help “international financial capital” access huge loans.

He had a dig at both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, saying they would not mind joining hands to get these financial reforms through. However, the Congress would not be able to do so for fear of the Government falling, Mr. Yechury said.

At the same time, he said “we know how to withdraw support to the UPA Government.” But the CPI (M) would neither allow the Government to fall nor allow the BJP come to power.

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