Thaindian News

Kolkata, Jan 20 (IANS) CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat Friday lambasted the eight-month old Mamata Banerjee regime in West Bengal for being “extremely intolerant to criticism” and for its “misrule” that he said was making all sections suffer.

Karat also hit out against the Trinamool Congress-led regime for the spate of farmer suicides and its “failure to administer and deliver”.

“Due to misrule of this government all sections are suffering. There is the shocking spectacle of suicides by 24 farmers. These farmers have committed suicide due to distress,” Karat told mediapersons after the party’s four-day central committee meeting here.

The CPI-M top boss traced the reasons for farmer suicides to failure of the procurement machinery to procure crops at the minimum support price.

“The procurement machinery is not in place. The earlier procurement machinery has been dismantled. Along with this, the welfare schemes like rural employment guarantee act and other special schemes for the poorest sections of the population are not being implemented,” he said.

“The failure to administer and deliver is glaring, affecting the poorest of people,” he said.

Pointing out that many of these schemes were earlier implemented through panchayats, Karat attacked the state government for “paraylsing” the panchayat system.

“The Trinamool government has literally stopped the functioning of the panchayats,” he said.

Karat also alleged that tea garden workers were committing suicide out of distress due to closed tea gardens. “The Left Front government was providing Rs.1,500 a month for workers of the closed tea gardens.”

Flaying the government for the attacks on CPI-M and the Left, he said 54 communist activists have been killed since the Trinamool came to power in May.

“We have noted how no serious efforts have been made to bring the culprits to book. The central committee has demanded steps to end such attacks,” he said.

Karat accused the state government of being “extremely intolerant” to criticism, and said “from the statements by the chief minister and other ministers it seems in Indian democratic system nobody has the right to criticise.”