CPI(M) will ask Centre to change anti-people policies: Sitaram Yechury

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) would intensify its struggle against the present Government's "anti-people and anti-working class" polices and mount pressure on it to change them, party general secretary Sitaram Yechury said in Visakhapatnam on Sunday.

Yechury, who was elected as the general secretary of the party at its 21st national Congress that ended in Visakhapatnam,  said this while addressing a public meeting here. Expressing concern over the "communal tendencies" being displayed by the "right wing reactionary forces" headed by the ruling BJP, Yechury, who spoke in his native language Telugu, said the Indian constitution is being threatened by these forces.
"CPI(M) always stood for minorities and oppressed classes," he said.

Ridiculing the 'Make in India' slogan by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Yechuri said, "It should have been termed as 'Make for India' instead." With the current Government policies, many PSUs are losing orders from the Government as they are diverted to foreign companies, thus threatening the survival of the Indian PSUs, he alleged.

The CPI(M) was not seeking any tax hikes, but wanted the Government to stop its moves to dole out concessions to the corporates in the name of tax rebates that could save huge amounts, Yechury said. Former General Secretary Prakash Karat, CPI(M) Polit Bureau members Brinda Karat, Manik Sarkar and others also spoke in the public meeting that was preceded by a rally by the party activists.