Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

LDF sees ‘declaration of war against people’

Pinarayi Vijayan says the budget is insensitive to State’s demands.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CPI(M), CPI and RSP have come down heavily on the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Parliament on Friday terming it inflationary and a virtual declaration of war on the people.

In separate statements here, leaders of these parties (constituents of the ruling Left Democratic Front) said the budget proposals would place a heavy additional burden on the people by way of price rise even as it took the nation’s economy on the path of privatisation and liberalisation.

The proposal to hike the excise duty on petroleum products would result in prices flaring up pauperising the people further. The budget was insensitive to the needs and anxieties of Kerala and there was no project that would benefit the State, they said.

CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said the budget, while tending to accentuate the inflationary pressures, had no proposal to prevent further job losses or to bail the country out of the economic crisis.

The decisions to raise the excise duty on petroleum products and to raise excise duty by 2 per cent would push the people further into misery.

Although the Finance Minister had spoken about ‘inclusive growth’ in his last budget as well, there was no proposal in this year’s budget to save debt-ridden farmers or to put in place a price stabilisation fund which would ensure that the farmers received remunerative prices for their produce.

The budget also reflected scant concern for the State’s demands. There was no new proposal for the State in the budget.

Although Rs.41,000 crore has been earmarked for the MGNREGS, the amendments proposed by the State had not been taken into account.

Terming the budget as one that has completely ignored Kerala, CPI State secretary Veliyam Bhargavan said the decision to hike the duty on petroleum products was proof that the budget would only aggravate the price situation.

He also came down on the proposed PSU disinvestment move and pointed out that the budget contained no proposal to compensate Kerala for the negative impact of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with ASEAN.

The budget was also silent about the rehabilitation of ailing traditional industries or the non-resident Indians returning to the country on account of the global financial crisis, Mr. Bhargavan said.

RSP State secretary V.P. Ramakrishna Pillai said the budget was unrealistic in its assumptions and anti-people in its character. Although there was hope that the budget would unveil some measure to strengthen the public distribution system, nothing of the kind had been included in the budget. If anything, the budget would only add to the inflation.

Given the budget’s silence about the long-pending demands of Kerala and special packages announced for Goa and Tamil Nadu, the Congress MPs from the State should answer to the people for the Central neglect of the State, Mr. Ramakrishna Pillai said.

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