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NO FDI IN RETAILS: LEFT
By Pallavi Khanna
New Delhi : 7th December 2005: CPM general secretary Mr Prakash Karat mingled with the dons of corporate India hell bent on educating him about the great benefits off opening up the economy and allowing FDI in all sectors. But Mr Karat held his ground: left is not opposed to FDI subject to certain conditions, but it is definitely opposed to FDI in retail.
At a function at Assocham, Mr Karat was also categorical that left would continue to support the government. “ UPA has taken some time to settle down. But now it has arrived. If the CMP is implemented comprehensively, some discrepancy of past 15 years of reforms can be addressed.”
Replying point-by-point to a series of doubts about the Left, Karat said: “ Left does not enjoy the power which speaker after speaker has been trying to prove. In some ways we are like you, lobbyists. Generally we fail, rarely succeed.”
He added that the past 15 years of reform has proved that what happened is not really the model of exclusive growth. He pointed to agriculture. ‘ the previous government failed to see the agrarian crisis. Corrective measures are required,” he said, adding that if the CMP of UPA is implemented, the country could set out on the path of progress.
The Left is not opposed to FDI, subject to three conditions: augment technology, production and increase employment. But he would have none of it in retail.
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