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CPI wants monsoon session convened

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Tuesday demanded immediate convening of the monsoon session of Parliament, saying the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government should not create an atmosphere of uncertainty about the session.

Addressing journalists at the end of the two-day national council meeting of the party here, CPI general secretary A. B. Bardhan asserted that the monsoon session had always been held traditionally. The government should not run away from it.

Alleging that the Congress-led UPA with its new-found allies Samajwadi Party and corporate house has launched a “rightward offensive” in the domestic policies, Mr. Bardhan said it was undermining Parliament and other democratic institutions.

“There is a tendency of authoritarianism in the functions of the government. The unethical methods adopted by the Congress and SP to win the trust vote in Parliament have brought immeasurable disrepute to our democracy and to the very democratic institution of the Parliament,” the CPI general secretary said.

At a time when both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party stooped low politically and morally, he described the coming together of the Left parties, the Bahujan Samaj Party, the United National Progressive Alliance and others as a “positive development.”

“These are the political and social forces which can, through people’s movements, emerge as a potential force to challenge the bipolarity in our polity which is sought by both BJP and Congress,” Mr. Bardhan said.

He added that the party’s national council pointed out that the Left would have to play an active role in mobilising all secular democratic forces. The council also extended full support to the August 20 general strike called by the Central trade unions and federations.

It called upon the people to fight against the “anti-people” economic policies of the Congress-led UPA government, against imperialism and communalism and above all against the rightward shift being sought by the Congress.

Mr. Bardhan was also critical of the government’s decision to appoint private fund managers, including Reliance Capital, for handling the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) deposits amounting to nearly Rs.2.5 lakh crore. He alleged that it was beginning of the process of privatisation of the largest social security scheme of the country. “It will totally undermine the safety and security of the funds at the peril of the subscribers,” he said.

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