‘On the economic policy front, there always has been a BJP-Congress match-fixing’

Dated 20th November, 2015

With the Winter Session approaching, the Left parties would like to be at the fulcrum of Opposition unity. But CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury suspects that the Congress will eventually end up supporting the government on some key economic issues, such as the GST Bill. He is equally certain that while there may be a common ground between two national parties on economic issues, on socio-political issues – especially on the ongoing debate about intolerance – the Opposition can unite against the ruling BJP. Yechury spoke to BusinessLine about Opposition unity, the threat from economic reforms and a resolution that he intends to push in Parliament. Excerpts:

The Monsoon Session passed with no major business being transacted. What do you foresee for the Winter Session?

We want the session to be conducted. We want to the government to be put in the dock for all the issues of communal polarisation in the country and the anti-people economic policies they are pursuing. Whether the House will continue or not will depend on the government. They are singularly responsible for disrupting the last session. It will be most unfortunate if they try to disrupt this also.

As far as the Left parties are concerned, we have been consistently demanding that the Constitution has to be amended to ensure that Parliament meets at least for 100 days a year.

I have already given a notice under the Rules of Procedure of Rajya Sabha 169/170 for a motion to be adopted by the House condemning such growing communal intolerance and attacks. That covers all issues – from prescribing eating habits and the activities against Dalits like the Faridabad incident, Dadri killing…The communal riots happened as a run-up to the Bihar elections…I have moved that the House should adopt a resolution. Now if the BJP is actually committed to the rule of law and the Constitution of India, it should have had no objection in accepting. But let us see.

The government is apparently knocking the doors of the Congress to get key Bills such as the GST passed

We have always maintained that on issues of economic policy, there is a match-fixing between the Congress and the BJP. So it is possible that the Congress may agree to some of these measures. But we will oppose – we opposed them when the Congress was in government, we oppose them when the BJP is in the government. When the Congress was in government, the BJP supported them. When the BJP is in government, we are sure that the Congress will support them. But such measures are not in India’s interests, both for economy and for the people.

What will be the future of the Land Bill and the GST Bill?

The Left will seek support of all political parties in reversing these anti-people measures. The Land Acquisition Act of 2013 remains as the law of the land. The BJP is trying to bypass that law by asking the State governments to enact their own laws and to ignore this law. That is not merely not correct, but a very subterfuge. We will oppose that.

We will oppose the decisions on enhancing FDI entry to India. This is the decision that was not even taken in the Union Cabinet, forget Parliament. The Prime Minister has bypassed all these. So naturally that will come up for scrutiny of the House. Likewise, many other decisions that they are taking which have not had the approval in accordance with the system will be raised and I am sure that many of the Opposition parties will join us.

What is your take on the GST Bill?

On the GST, it was the BJP that made sure that this Bill does not get Parliament approval. We have our serious objections to the encroachment on the federal structure and on the rights of the State. We do not know what the Centre has done on this. Are all the States on board? The government will have to answer the Parliament. Also, there is a myth that as soon as the GST comes in, there will be automatic growth in the country. The GST per say may reduce bureaucratic harassments, but in it self will not in any way be an impetus for growth. For economic growth, what is required is the expansion of the domestic market. Now with relentless price rise, the disposable income that people have has also reduced. So the domestic demand is contracting, and global demand is contracting because of global prices. So even if you open up investment, avenues of FDI, FDI will make more profits exploiting our resources and markets rather than contributing to growth. Who will buy what they produce out of their investment?

What will be the impact of the Bihar poll results in Parliament?

In the Rajya Sabha, the ordinance on the Land Bill could not be converted into law. They repromulgated the Ordinance thrice. Seven Bills were referred to Select Committees. So this floor coordination was already on in the Rajya Sabha. Now naturally it will be further strengthened. The point here is it is not political mobilisation – BJP versus non-BJP. The point is the issue. We hope the Opposition parties will come together to protect the Indian people.

In Bihar, you fought as an independent bloc. There is an allegation that this weakened the fight against the BJP.

In a situation of polarisation, anywhere in India, given our structure of Parliamentary democracy, any alternative gets squeezed out. That happened with us. In spite of this, three MLAs of this united Left bloc won, all from the CPI(ML). In the given situation, that was a very good achievement.

Now, no government in Bihar can ignore these issues we had raised.

The charge that the Left contesting as an independent block divided anti-BJP votes is completely untenable. These elections are being held in the backdrop of 15 years of Lalu Prasad as Chief Minister, followed by ten years of Nitish Kumar as CM. So for 25 years, this combination was in government. There was and is a very strong anti-incumbency. Now the Left contesting ensured that much of this anti-incumbency vote did not go to the BJP. The Left contested the elections based on three slogans - defeat of the BJP and communal forces; alternatives to the policies of Lalu Prasad earlier and Nitish Kumar later; strengthening the Left in the Bihar Assembly. The Left has grown from one MLA to three. The BJP was defeated and they cannot ignore the agenda we have set and the struggles for the implementation of the pro-people policies will continue. They are not only connected with the elections.

(This article is published in The Hindu Business Line on November 20, 2015)