By IANS,
Kolkata : Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is opposing FDI in retail on the United States’ advise to confuse people about the Left movement’s authenticity, CPI-M leader Biman Bose said here Thursday.
“Suddenly, a right-wing party like Trinamool is opposing retail FDI, saying it is concerned about farmers and small traders. But it was the Left that from the beginning opposed retail FDI. We had even forced the first UPA government to shelve the policy,” said Bose, a Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member.
Last week, miffed over the diesel price hike and nod to foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country’s retail sector, Banerjee, who is also the West Bengal chief minister, withdrew her party’s support to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the centre.
“On one hand, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is meeting the chief minister at the state secretariat and on the other hand, Trinamool is opposing retail FDI. This is nothing but a tactic to fool the masses about Left’s authenticity,” he said.
Bose alleged that late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi too had spoken against US imperialism in the ’70s to confuse the masses and blunt the Left movement.
“The Trinamool supremo is also following the same strategy. She has been advised by the US to oppose retail FDI so that people become confused.”