Thaindian News

New Delhi, May 19 (IANS) As the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government completes one year of its second innings, Marxist leader Prakash Karat Wednesday said it has become more vulnerable and was using investigating agencies in order to gain support in parliament.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) general secretary also said that the UPA government’s biggest failure was to check rising food prices for which he blamed official policies.

“Politically, the striking outcome of the first year of the UPA government is its increasing vulnerability,” Karat said in an article in the party organ “People’s Democracy”.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who headed the first UPA government in 2004-09, took office May 22 last year.

Karat said that in May 2009, when the UPA failed to get a majority in the Lok Sabha, the Congress leadership became complacent with the unilateral declaration of support by parties like the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S).

“By the end of the first year that complacency has been shattered. During the last budget session, the Congress had to adopt the tactic of bargain and striking deals to garner support from amongst these parties,” he said.

Karat accused the government of misusing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to prop up the government’s majority in parliament. “The cynical use of the CBI for political purposes is undermining the credibility of the agency.”

Karat accused the government of failing to tackle the relentless price rise of essential commodities, particularly food items. “This has been the biggest cause for people’s suffering in the past year. For the poor, it has meant less food and more hunger and malnutrition.”

He attributed the price rise to neo-liberal economic policies.

“Food items and other essential commodities are traded and speculated in the market in a big way. The forward trading system is the playground for big trading companies and corporates.

“The government is in the least interested in curbing these interests who are making huge profits,” he said.

The CPI-M leader said nexus between big business and ruling politicians caused largescale corruption and illegality.

“The first year of the government has seen the IPL (Indian Premier League) affair, the 2G spectrum allocation scam and the mining scandal of the Reddy brothers. All this can be directly sourced to the nexus between big business and ruling politicians,” Karat said.

Slamming the anti-Maoist policy, the CPI-M leader said the government found itself hampered by its own ally, the Trinamool Congress. “Mamata Banerjee has declared there are no Maoists in West Bengal and therefore there is no need for joint operations against them,” Karat said.