Press Release
By axing the laid down norms carved out
to protect the interests of the retail traders the UPA government has thrown
open the Indian retail sector to the loot for the global multi-brand retail
companies. The Socialist Party strongly opposes the decision and appeals the
opposition parties, including the prime opposition party BJP, to protest against
this decision with the demand that the decision of allowing FDI in the retail
sector must be scrapped for ever.
With this new decision on FDI in retail the
Congress leaders have shed away all Constitutional obligations and have come
out in open against the retailers and farmers of India. They do not honour
their own words/decisions made in the Parliament. The ‘goddess of renunciation’
Sonia Gandhi, ‘demigod of honesty’ Manmohan Singh, his ‘best neo-liberal boy’ P.
Chidambaram and likes have come out in their true colours. They all are bent
upon to sell the country to the multinationals.
As per the decision now global retail
companies are allowed to open their stores in cities with population less than
10 lakh; the condition that 30% procurement must be from Indian small
industries with total investment of less than $1 million has been relaxed in
favour of medium scale industries with a total investment not exceeding $2
million; the condition that global companies must spend 50% of their investment
on infrastructure has also been relaxed to first $100 million invested by them.
The Socialist Party, at this crucial
juncture, would like to remind people of the country that the UPA government
was forced to withhold the decision of the Cabinet allowing 51% FDI in the
retail sector in November 2011, following united and stiff protest by the
non-Congress political parties and trade union bodies. But the UPA government,
wedded to the ill-conceived notion of growth rate, implemented the decision to
appease and benefit the foreign and Indian corporate lobbies. It can be
remembered that in early May last year, the US Foreign Secretary Mrs. Hillary
Clinton visited India with this agenda at top priority. Mrs. Clinton has served
on Wal-Mart board as its director for six years. West Bengal chief minister
Mamata Banerjee had expressed utmost resentment against the decision. That is
why Mrs. Clinton went to Calcutta first to meet, praise and appease Mrs.
Banerjee. The Indian MD of the French retail giant Carrefour called on Commerce
and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and forced him to implement the withheld decision
at the earliest.
In view of this descending danger, the
Socialist Party held a day-long dharna at Jantar Mantar on 28 May 2012 against
the government’s decision and submitted a memorandum to the President
requesting her to advise the government to scrap the decision conclusively. The
Socialist Party also sent a letter to all non-Congress office bearers and chief
ministers requesting them not to implement this anti-people and anti-national
decision in their states. Further, the Socialist Party observed Quit India day
as ‘No to FDI day’ in Delhi and other cities of the country. The party also
participated in the Bharat Bandh of 20 September 2012 and organised a protest
march in Delhi and other cities.
The Socialist Party, time and again, has
emphatically emphasised that the ‘loss-benefit’ discussion that went on in the mainstream
media and the ruling circles on this issue has no meaning. The FDI in the
retail sector is for the benefit of the multinationals such as Wall Mart,
Carrefour, Tesco, big Indian corporate houses and, of course, the ruling elite
of India. The 4 crore retailers with their 20-25 crore family members will be
the losers from the beginning to the end. Country’s farmers will also bear the
brunt of the decision. The already critical state of unemployment would be
worsened further.
It is unfortunate that those who claim
to be the champions of socialism and social justice, such as Samajwadi Party,
Bahujan Samaj Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Lok Janshakti Party, Dravid Munetra
Kazhgam etc., have been playing the game of hide and seek from the very
beginning on this contentious issue. They do this at the cost of the vulnerable
sections of the society who trusted them and made them powerful. It was the
most unfortunate act on their part that they happily attended the dinner party
offered by the PM in November 2012 to garner their support to implement the
withheld decision. The Socialist Party had termed PM’s dinner diplomacy as mrityu bhoj of the hard working poor
people whose lives have perished or are destined to perish by such neo-liberal decisions.
The Socialist Party appeals to the
political parties who truly favour the retailers to come together and force the
government to scrap FDI in retail for ever. The party also appeals to the
various trader bodies, trade unions, social organisations and concerned citizens
who believe in the Constitutional sovereignty and socialism to come forward
unitedly and decisively against this neo-liberal onslaught.
Dr. Prem Singh
General Secretary/Spokesperson 
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