Left parties and VCK to protest Centre's economic policy

CHENNAI: The Communist parties and the VCK will campaign in Tamil Nadu from May 25 to 31 to create awareness among the people about the Union government’s wrong economic policies, which are impacting the lives of the poor and middle class people, said the leaders of these parties.
CPM state secretary K Balakrishnan, VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan, CPI secretary R Mutharasan and CPI (ML) state committee member Varadharajan told reporters in Chennai on Monday that the campaign was aimed at sensitising the people across the state.
They demanded that the Centre take steps to control rise in prices of essential commodities. Cadres would carry out door-to-door campaigns and distribute pamphlets, they said.
The decision to cut excise duty on petrol and diesel was taken to pre-empt a Sri Lanka-type revolt, said Thirumavalavan. He called upon the Centre to withdraw cess on fuel.
He lamented that Rs 200 subsidy on LPG was given only to Ujwala beneficiaries, when the rise in LPG price was affecting all sections of society.
They said there was acute shortage of wheat in northern states and that it was not being distributed through the PDS shops. It was a fallout of the government not procuring wheat, the leaders said.
While the BJP came to power promising creation of two crore jobs per year, in reality, seven crore people had lost jobs, they said. The price of cotton had risen many fold due to the Union government’s wrong policies, they said.
If the Union government continued to protect corporates and went ahead with privatisation of public sector entities like the LIC, the country would face grave consequences, they said.