'Shine' claim has no takers in Left, Oppn

NEW DELHI: The Left and the Opposition on Friday mounted a frontal assault on the Manmohan Singh government over its “failure” to contain price rise and contested the “shine” claim in the Presidential address.

Pointing out that a similar resentment among the people over the policy matrix led to the collapse of the “India shining” hype in 2004, as well as the NDA’s defeat, the Left parties asked the government to take time-bound action to curb inflation.

“The government should ban futures trading in essential commodities. The price rise is not on account of increased liquidity. It is because of price rise of essential commodities as there has been speculative activity in the market. The government’s analysis is faulty as it is divorced from ground realities,” CPM leader Sitaram Yechury said.

The CPM said that minor adjustments in fuel prices were not enough to contain the situation. “We have been seeking a reduction in excise duty, change of the taxing pattern from ad valorem to specific, formation of a price stabilisation fund and review of duty drawbacks.

Only if these changes are made will people feel assured that the UPA government means business as far as inflation is concerned. Image-building is done by policies and not by mere acts of feudal benevolence,” CPM leaders said.

Gurudas Dasgupta of CPI said the President’s speech did not adequately address the common man’s concerns. “It painted a rosy picture of the economy. The speech mentioned a second green revolution when agricultural production was declining,” he said.

The BJP, which exploited the price rise issue in the just-concluded elections to the Punab Assembly, clearly indicated that it would be its key theme in the coming electoral battles. Charging the Centre with scant concern for common man’s concerns, the BJP said the Prime Minister’s letter to chief ministers was just a “plea of desperation”.

“The letter shows the Prime Minister’s inability to find a solution to the problem and abdication of his own duties. He is attempting to pass the buck,” BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley said.

At the routine press briefing, the BJP on Monday described the Presidential address as “a bunch of hollow promises’’ and “a listless exercise’’, and said it was planning to move in as many as 60 amendments. The party circulated the list of changes it was looking for in the address.

“It makes no mention of the government’s failures on the internal security front, or the never-ending run of farmers’ suicides, or the government’s resolve to end corruption by introducing the Lok Pal Bill,’’ BJP parliamentary party spokesman V K Malhotra said.

“The speech does not mention any plan to stop religion-based reservations in educational institutions and steps to stop conversions through inducements,” the BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha said.

The BJP leader, who maintained that the Centre had failed to initiate plans to increase interest rates on small savings and provident funds, also dubbed prime minister Manmohan Singh’s letters to the states on prices as “a big farce”.