The CPI(M) on Thursday hit out at the Centre alleging that it had plans for large-scale privatisation, was manipulating data, promoting crony capitalism and destroying parliamentary procedures.
It also demanded immediate Assembly polls in Jammu andKashmir and warned that the Union home minister’s announcement about theCentre’s intention to annul Article 35 of the Constitution that dealt withJammu and Kashmir’s autonomy would further sever the bonds of unity between thepeople of the state and the rest of the country.
“The BJP government continues to refuse to initiate thelong-promised political dialogue with all stakeholders. This is essential torestore normalcy and peace in the valley.
“The additional deployment by the government isofficially stated to be a response to an increased threat perception ofterrorist attacks. Unless the process of dialogue begins simultaneously, thesituation cannot be normalised in J&K,” a statement issued by theCPI(M) politburo said.
Taking on the government’s economic policies, it saidIndia’s industrial core sector growth had dropped to a 44-month low of 0.2 percent in June 2019, compared to a 7.8 per cent growth in June 2018.
The Left party alleged that the government had prepared aroadmap to lower its stake in all central public sector enterprises to 49 percent in three years and accused the BJP-led dispensation of “fudging”data to “conceal the truth”.
“There is a glaring omission of at least Rs 1.7 lakhcrore in the budget accounts. Revenues are shown inflated when the GSTcollections have registered a sharp drop from the announced targets,” itsaid. The statement further said the government was undermining all independentconstitutional authorities rapidly.
It alleged that the government was pushing through importantlegislations in the very first Parliament session after the LokSabha polls heldin April-May.
“Once the Parliament constitutes its standing and housecommittees, then all legislative business introduced in the Parliament isnormally sent for scrutiny by the concerned committees. This practice has beendone away with by this government. No committee has been constituted sofar,” the statement said.
It also highlighted the lacunas in the RTI (Amendment) Bill,the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill and the “tripletalaq” bill.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) also raised the issueof arrests in Uttar Pradesh for sharing “objectionable content”against Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on social media platforms and similarincidents in BJP-ruled states such as Assam, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Goa.
“This is creating a sense of fear in the social media,where authors, writers and individuals are being targeted under the draconiansection 66A of the IT Act, despite the Supreme Court ruling against thissection.”The spread of hatred and intolerance isalso targeting social activists and human rights activists in the name ofeither ‘urban naxals’ or ‘tukdetukde gang’ etc. The objective is to silence allexpressions of dissent against this government, the RSS, the BJP and theirleaders,” the statement said.