The Left parties will stage a five day sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar from July 30 to August 3 against price rise and to demand the right to food through a universal public distribution system. The General Secretaries of the four parties, Prakash Karat, Sudhakar Reddy, Debabrata Biswas and T.J.Chandrachoodan, will lead it.

The Left Parties – CPI, CPI(M), AIFB and RSP – have issued the following statement:

The Left parties will stage a five day sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar from July 30 to August 3 against price rise and to demand the right to food through a universal public distribution system. The General Secretaries of the four parties, Prakash Karat, Sudhakar Reddy, Debabrata Biswas and T.J.Chandrachoodan, will lead it. Rallies will be held in State capitals during the sit-in by national leaders at Delhi. Earlier, the parties had held dharnas, sit-in protests, civil disobedience at the block and district headquarters as part of the national campaign.

The utter failure of the UPA Government to control prices is shown even in the latest official data. For example, the percentage increase over last year is very high for most essential commodities, at 32 per cent for mustard oil, 15 per cent for sugar, and a whopping 71 per cent for gram dal. The price of potatoes is up by 91 per cent. In this situation it is condemnable that the Government should yet again hike the price of petrol by 70 p. With the grave situation arising out of the imminent drought in many States, the UPA Government must be forced to reverse these disastrous anti-people policies.

The Left parties appeal to all sections to support the demands of the sit-in:

• No BPL or APL—ensure a universal public distribution system

• Give 35 kg of foodgrains at a maximum rate of two rupees a kilo per family per month. Distribute the huge 8 crore foodgrain stocks by increasing allocations immediately.

• Scrap the Planning Commission’s highly dubious poverty estimates. Do not use them as basis for allocations for welfare rights

• Implement Swaminathan Commission recommendations for a fair procurement price and profit margin to farmers.

• Immediate measures to curb price rise