Rahul wonders why poor getting poorer in Left-ruled state

KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: ICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Friday threw few hard punches at the Left, saying that Leftists in West Bengal practice a curious variety of Communism that doesn���t protect the poor. ���This Communism is quite strange as the poor have only become poorer in the three decade rule of the Leftists,��� Mr Gandhi said in West Bengal���s Malda.

The Congress leader also said it was strange that Communism is being pushed in the state when it has lost its appeal all around the world. ���Communism is no longer practiced in the rest of the world,��� Mr Gandhi said.

The Gandhi scion told his audience that things have only worsened in West Bengal under the Communist rule. ���I work in Uttar Pradesh and though the state was backward, the situation in West Bengal is far worse than UP,��� he said. He also charged the Left Front government with pilfering central funds meant for development. ���The Centre has been pumping large sums of money for rural development schemes. But it does not reach the intended beneficiary in the state,��� he said.

Congress has been scathing in its attack on the Left in this campaign season. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had recently said the electorate should vote out the Left in Kerala as it follows a regressive ideology.

���The Left that rules the state has unfortunately often been on the wrong side of history. When Mahatma Gandhi started the Quit India movement, the Left did not participate in it. When India became Independent, they said this independence is not for real. When the Indira Gandhi ushered in the Green Revolution, the Left opposed it saying it was only for the benefit of foreign seed companies. And when Rajiv Gandhi started communications revolution they opposed it saying it will take away jobs,��� the prime minister had said.