CPM to fuel govt run but protest petro price hike

NEW DELHI: Yet another pyrrhic protest by the Left is on the cards. The CPM, which on Thursday conceded the inevitability of the fuel price hike, threatened a “nation-wide” strike against the government’s plan.

“We will organise nation-wide agitation against the price hike after the government announces its decision,” CPM general secretary Prakash Karat said. Implicit in this was an admission that the Left’s intervention has not succeeded.

The CPM leader, who tried to give a grandiose spin to the proposed agitation, said that the Left parties are in touch with other constituents of the UPA on taking on the government over fuel price hike. So far, only Mulayam Singh Yadav has come out in support of the agitation.

“We don’t consider this fifth price hike of petro products (ever since the UPA government came to power) to be justified,” Mr Karat told reporters after a 90-minute meeting of left party leaders, including A B Bardhan, Debabrata Biswas and Abani Roy. Mr Karat said the Left was totally against any increase in the prices and was not bargaining for a “negotiated hike”.

He said the Left has been demanding review of the taxation structure, a suggestion which has been rejected by the government. The Left has repeatedly sought slashing down excise and customs duty so that increase in international oil prices does not percolate to the consumer. “The Left will contact others and appeal for an all India protest action on a mutually agreeable day,” Mr Karat said.

The decision was taken at the Left meeting, which began with a pat on the back over the victory in West Bengal and Kerala. The anti-price hike agitation is only a sign of things to come as the Left plans to petition the government on policy matters. The Left decided to send a “comprehensive” note to the UPA listing out key areas of differences as well as lining out priorities and “direction” for the government.

The note is likely to focus on economic and foreign policy issues which have been taken up by the Left over the past two years, including disinvestment of profit-making PSUs, privatisation of airports and power distribution, unorganised labour bill, tribal bill, women’s reservation and FDI in retail.

The CPM said in an editorial in the forthcoming issue of People’s Democracy, “The overall direction of foreign policy and the constant erosion of India’s strategic autonomy will be major issues and will haunt the government in the coming days.”

The CPM opposed India joining the “US-sponsored” Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan gas pipeline project and accused the government of preparing to scuttle the Iran pipeline project.

Alleging that this illustrated the “new direction” in India’s foreign and strategic policy, the article pointed out that the Prime Minister was not attending the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which has emerged as an “important counterweight to the growing US hegemony and the global thrust of NATO.”

The Left parties have already issued a detailed combined note last week accusing the government of violating CMP promises and alleging US influence in domestic policy-making.