BANKING LAWS AMENDMENT BILL

UPA GOVERNMENT OUT TO PERPETRATE CRIMES UPON PEOPLE - Tapan Sen

THE Congress-led government of the day is on a spree to commit one crime after another on the nation and the people. If the UPA-1 regime could not fulfil its wish-list of anti-people measures as it was dependent on the Left to remain in power, the Congress now has allies like the Trinamul Congress and DMK and an “opposition” like the BJP who support the government in most of its criminal acts.

These crimes are a legion --- from arrogant patronisation to allowing the speculators and hoarders in the food market to jack the prices up and earn windfall profit. It did everything to enable the corporate houses to loot the public exchequer, e.g. in telecom spectrum sale or in procurement of contracts for the Commonwealth Games.

The government introduced in Lok Sabha on March 22 the Banking Laws Amendment Bill which aims to empower the foreign bankers to dominate the private sector banks on Indian soil on the one hand and to empower the private sector shareholders, both domestic and foreign, in public sector banks to interfere in the functioning of these banks through enhanced voting rights.

The implication of this bill has to be understood in the context of loud announcement of the finance minister in his latest budget speech to encourage private sector banks to grow through liberal issuance of licenses. Also, the discussion paper circulated on the website of the Reserve Bank of India virtually calls upon the big industrial houses to own banks of their own and take the rural banks over. All these things, taken together, expose the nefarious game plan to create a much bigger space for private sector banks and speculators, both domestic and particularly foreign, in the financial sector. This would squeeze the space of the nationalised banks through various policy interventions like merger of banks, reduction in number of branches in the name of duplication and other restrictive directions, thus putting them in a disadvantaged position vis-à-vis the private sector and foreign banks. Foreign banks, with much bigger money power, will thus corner the savings of the common people. This will dechannelise the savings generated internally to speculative markets instead of the development and employment generating projects.

In its absolute subservience to their masters in the World Bank and Washington, the government of the day refused to take lessons from the global financial meltdown owing to reckless speculation by the banking sector of the USA and Europe and the resultant recession and crisis in the world economy. Rather, they have chosen to weaken and marginalise the public sector banks and insurance sector which did indeed insulate to a great extent the Indian economy and the people from the disaster of such financial meltdown.

This particular bill too was introduced during the UPA-1 regime but the Left parties did not allow it to pass and it lapsed with the 14th Lok Sabha. Now the UPA-2 government is out to commit this crime on our economy and people.

POINT TO PONDER

The point to seriously ponder is that homework for all these three disastrous bills started during the BJP-led NDA regime and that the UPA-1 regime made frequent efforts to push them through, though in vain. Also, both the alliances, NDA and UPA, hah had certain common partners in these exercises of criminality. Two such common partners have been the Trinamul Congress and DMK who aided in these disastrous anti-worker and anti-people exercises. None of them can wash its hands off.

Moreover, the main opposition party, the BJP, has also joined hands in perpetrating these crimes on people and the nation.

In fact, it is the Left parties and the working people’s movement, whose aspirations coincide with the Left’s vision on national interest and people’s right, who have been putting up a real opposition to such neo-liberal crimes.

The perpetrators of these crimes, their allies and their hangers-on stand identified today, but their game is not yet over. Though these bills have been introduced, they have not been passed. The situation demands more mobilisation and more militant resistance outside --- in the workplaces, on the streets. Only the Left can lead this struggle and help people recognise their real enemies.

Courtesy: www.pd.cpim.org/