Cong-led UDF, BJP aligned on right-wing policies: Kerala CM

The ruling CPI(M) in Kerala has accused the BJP-ruled Centre and the Congress-led opposition UDF in the state of having the same stand with regard to implementation of many extreme right wing policies, like disinvestment in public sector undertakings in the country.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan contended that since the Left government in the state was opposed to implementation of such policies, it was seen as an enemy and was being financially restricted and restrained as part of the “revenge politics” of the Centre.
Speaking at an event here on Sunday to commemorate the first death anniversary of CPI(M) stalwart Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Vijayan alleged that both the Congress-led UDF and the BJP have always taken a stand against the progress and development of Kerala to take revenge on the Left regime. He said that the country was presently going through a time when the BJP-ruled Centre was trying to implement extreme right wing policies in the country and the Left Front government, the only Communist administration in the country, was not in favour of implementing them. Vijayan said one such policy was the disinvestment in PSUs (public sector undertakings) which was initially implemented by the then Congress government at the Centre and at that time the BJP, which was in the opposition, was in agreement with the same. Not only now, even the previous BJP governments were in agreement with that policy, he claimed. “During their present two terms in power, the BJP-led government has been trying to extensively implement the disinvestment policy which is an anti-labour move. They want to destroy PSUs, while we want to protect them,” the CM contended. Vijayan said as the Left front has a different stand from that of the BJP in matters of secularism, parliamentary democracy as well as financial policies, among many others, the Centre has taken a vengeful stance against the state and the people here.
He further claimed that the BJP-ruled Centre also finds it amusing the considerable amount of time and money the state was devoting to welfare measures for the poor and disadvantaged. “They find it amusing. They see it as a joke. It is because they are unable to think of such welfare measures as a Left government can,” he claimed.