People's Democracy

POLIT BUREAU STATEMENT

Manmohan Govt Squarely Responsible For Raging Inflation

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement on June 20, 2008

THE inflation rate has gone up to 11.05 per cent for the week ending June 7. This is a direct result of the steep increase effected by the government in the prices of petrol, diesel and cooking gas.

This raging double-digit inflation is going to have a disastrous effect on the living standards of people with the rampant increase in prices of all essential commodities. The Manmohan Singh government is squarely responsible for this dismal situation. It cannot escape by blaming global inflation.

The government has refused to take the measures suggested by the Left parties such as strengthening and universalising the public distribution system and banning forward trading in all essential commodities. Nor is it willing to do away with the iniquitous taxation structure and the import parity pricing of the petroleum products.

The government refuses to tax the windfall profits of private refineries like the Reliance Industries which made a profit of Rs 10,372 crore in 2007-08. Even in the United States, to whom our rulers look up to, the concept of taxing windfall profits is accepted.

The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) calls upon all its Party units to step up the agitation against price rise and to mobilise the people to compel the government to take measures to curb price rise and provide immediate relief to the people.