By IANS,
Kolkata : Flaying the Congress-led UPA government over several issues including the budget, the CPI-M Friday said only the Left parties had alternative policies that were being propogated through the party’s “Sangharsh Sandesh Jathas” (revolutionary message marches).
“The budget has once again proved that this government thinks only about the rich. Subsidy worth Rs.26,000 has been withdrawn from petroleum, which eventually will lead to further price rise,” party general secretary Prakash Karat said here.
“The budget has no provision for employment, when there is so much unemployment in the country. People of Tripura have shown the way, only the Left parties have the suitable policies,” Karat said.
The Left Front Thursday retained power in Tripura for the fifth consecutive time, sweeping 50 of 60 seats in the assembly.
Karat was speaking at the launch of the parties’ Eastern Jatha (march), flagged off by former West Bengal chief minister and politburo member Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
The Karat-led jatha will travel to various districts of the state before reaching Delhi via Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
“The purpose of the jathas is to highlight the problems faced by the people on account of price rise, unemployment, the problems faced by the farmers and the massive corruption. We are the only one to form alternative policies to the present ones being laid out by either the Congress or the BJP,” Karat said.
There are four main jathas, starting from Kanyakumari, Kolkata, Mumbai and Amritsar, and travelling through the length and breadth of the country, before converging at Delhi March 19, where a massive rally is scheduled.
Apart from the Eastern jatha, which began Friday from here, the Kanyakumari jatha led by S. Ramachandran began its journey Feb 24; the Amritsar jatha led by Brinda Karat will begin March 4, while the Mumbai jatha led by Sitaram Yechuri will commence March 8.
The focus areas that the marchers have decided to highlight are: Right to land and house-sites; curb of price-rise and the right to food; right to education and health; right to employment; social justice and the rights of women; and an end to corruption.