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Inflation: BJP, Left hit out at government

NEW DELHI: The United Progressive Alliance government came under attack from both the Left and the Bharatiya Janata Party over the high inflation rate that touched a seven-year high of 8.75 per cent on Friday.

While the BJP expressed fears of inflation crossing the double-digit mark in the days to come, the Left accused the government of adopting a “slack attitude” on the issue.

The Left parties alleged that the government had meekly surrendered to market speculators and followed neo-liberal policies that pushed up the prices of all essential items.

CPI(M) leader Nilotpal Basu said the economic scenario was “very, very critical” and that only a paradigm shift in policies would help.

“The price rise is primarily due to the weakening of the public distribution system and policies on food economy. The government is not taking earnest steps to control the situation. There are only half-hearted and incomplete measures.”

Describing the high inflation rate as a cause for “very serious concern,” CPI national secretary D. Raja said the government’s fiscal and monetary measures had not yielded any result and failed to provide any relief to people.

The inflation rate was calculated on the basis of the Wholesale Price Index. It would go further up when the Consumer Price Index was taken into account.

“Many economists have expressed the fear that inflation may cross the double-digit mark. It is all due to the government’s commitment to neo-liberal policies and then expecting that market forces will bring down the prices.”

The government could not shun its responsibility by blaming price rise as a “global phenomenon,” Mr. Raja said.

The BJP said it was clear that the government had completely failed in its monetary and fiscal policies. “The illustrious team of the Prime Minister, the Finance Minister, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission and the Reserve Bank of India Governor was hoodwinking the common man by promising that inflation would come down in a few weeks time,” party spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

The common man had become “terrorised” by the team of economists. “High prices of all essential items of daily consumption have unleashed a nightmarish experience on the common man, who has been handed down death sentence by the government.”

Alleging that the UPA government had become “dysfunctional,” Mr. Rudy demanded that the prices be brought back to the 2006 level.

“The Prime Minister and his advisers say the price rise is a global phenomenon. I would like to remind that corruption in the Congress is also international and its leadership is also international,” he said.

Mr. Rudy alleged that the Left parties were also equally responsible for the runaway inflation. He claimed that during the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance regime, prices of general consumer items of domestic use were low, though those of petrol and diesel were slightly high.

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