NEW DELHI, 20 April 2008 — After months of threatening the government, leftist allies of India’s ruling Congress party yesterday joined hands with Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party to protest against a rampant rise in food prices.
Observers saw in the joint left-United National Progressive Alliance action the emergence of a third political force rivaling Congress and its archfoe the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Workers and supporters of both the leftist parties and the Samajwadi Party courted arrest and also spoke in one voice against the government on inflation. Though they resolved to strengthen their agitation if the price rise is not checked, the leftists refrained from threatening to withdraw their support to the government.
Speaking at a seminar organized by the UNPA, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) General Secretary Prakash Karat threatened to intensify agitation if the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government did not take effective measures to curb inflation. “An explosive situation will emerge if (food) prices are not controlled,” Karat said. “After April 23, we will look for other means to protest against government’s handling of the price situation,” he said.
“We have been warning the government about the rising inflation levels and had given several suggestions to rein in price rise. But the government refused to pay heed and if the situation remains the same it should be ready to face further agitation,” A.B. Bardhan (Communist Party of India) said. Accusing the government of lacking the “political will” to control inflation, UNPA chairman and Samajwadi Party chief Yadav said: “The government says that inflation is a global phenomenon, which is an indication that a further increases are on way. All senior ministers of the UPA government have been shirking responsibility by saying that the price rise in India is linked to global inflation. But it’s the government’s anti-people policies that have led to rise in prices.”
“Our agenda is to check the price rise. If Congress doesn’t listen to our demands, we will strengthen our agitation and things will get worse,” CPI-M leader Sitaram Yechury said.
The UPA government is catering only to select strata of society, according to Telugu Desam Party chief N. Chandrababu Naidu. “The mismatch between demand and supply has led to inflation. Improper public distribution system in many states and high prices of essential commodities and also of steel and cement have badly affected the common man,” Naidu said.
The country should be saved and not the government in such a situation, Om Prakash Chautala (Indian National Lok Dal) said
National Conference leader and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Farooq Abdullah, Abani Roy of the Revolutionary Socialist Party along with several intellectuals and economists participated in the seminar. The participants later marched to the Prime Minister’s Office to hand over a memorandum to him, but were stopped near Parliament House, where they courted arrest.
