The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has issued the following statement:
The cabinet approval for the sale of government’s stake in the highly profit-making Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) is completely detrimental to India’s sovereignty. Along with BPCL, four other PSUs including the Shipping Corporation of India and the Container Corporation of India, THDCIL and the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation are on the block. The government will also cease management control of these PSUs.
The Modi government has shortlisted 28 PSUs in steel, engineering, construction, aviation, electronic, ports, railways, defence production and some other sectors for privatization within a year. In order to meet its profligate expenditure, mostly on propaganda and spin, this government is selling public assets to meet a target of raising Rs. 1.10 lakh crores. In the process, productive and value creating PSUs are being sold to promote their crony corporates to gain strategic control of the Indian economy. This is akin to selling family silver to meet daily expenditures inevitably ruining the family.
The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) extends its support to the countrywide strike by all unions of BPCL on November 28. The CPI(M) has already announced a month-long campaign against privatization of PSUs in December.
(Hari Singh Kang)
For CPI(M) Central Committee Office