Patna: CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury on Tuesday hit out at the Centre over its "pro-rich policies", seeking to know why the "Union government was not writing off farmers' loans if it could offer waivers to corporate honchos". Addressing the party's Bharat Bachao (save India) rally at Gandhi Maidan, Yechury claimed that the NDA government "favours only a select group of industrialists" in the country.
"This government at the Centre can write off Rs 11 lakh crore loans taken by the corporate honchos in the country, but can't waive farmers' loans. It can give a subsidy of thousands of crores of rupees to a firm for investments in poll-bound Gujarat, but can't increase wages of those working under MNREGA," said Yechury. The CPI(M) leader alleged that the BJP-led government at the Centre was working to spread hate and fear among people.
"Unemployment is increasing in the country There are no jobs for the younger generation. But the central government is least bothered about these issues. It is busy privatising state-owned Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and have permitted loot of national assets. "Their policies are anti-people and anti-poor. They (central government) have created such a situation that mere survival of common man has now become difficult," he said.
Yechury stressed that opposition unity was the need of the hour. "The NDA must be thrown out of power in the next Lok Sabha polls. I met Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and RJD president Lalu Prasad yesterday and discussed opposition unity. This Gandhi Maidan has been witness to many historic events. "It's time again for all secular democratic forces to unite and make their way from Pataliputra (Patna) to Indraprastha (Delhi) to save the Republic of India," he added. (PTI)
