Kerala CM slams BJP govt’s neo-liberal policies; benefiting only corporates, multi-billionaires

Kochi: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday criticised the “neo-liberal economic policies” of the ruling BJP at the Centre saying only the corporates and the multi-billionaires are its beneficiaries. Vijayan said the jobs in the organised sector have come down drastically while no steps have been taken to fill the over 10 lakh vacant positions in the Central government. “Under the BJP rule, corporates are flourishing in our country. The number of multi-billionaires is also increasing. But our country is in the 107th position in the global hunger index and in the poverty index we are at the 131th position. These indices show that the situation in our country has worsened,” Vijayan said while addressing the diamond jubilee celebrations of the pro-left Non-Gazetted Officers (NGO) Union here.
He urged the BJP government to focus more on uplifting the poor and downtrodden of the country instead of framing policies to help the corporates. The veteran CPI(M) leader accused the Union government of trying to ‘strangulate’ the Kerala government financially.
He said the State government was trying to bring out an alternative policy for the benefits of the poor. ”What have you done for the majority of the people in this country who are commoners? A government should focus on the welfare of the people. The governance in our country is for the corporates and not for the poor. Kerala is trying to put forward an alternative policy to this but the Centre is against it and trying to financially strangle the State,” the Left leader said.
Vijayan said in the last eight years only 0.33 per cent of the job seekers could obtain a job while the rest remain unemployed. ”Over 10 lakh posts are lying vacant across the country in the Central government sector. In the last eight years, only 0.33 per cent of job seekers could enroll in jobs in the country. The rest are unemployed. In our country 82 per cent of workers employed in the unorganised sector have no job security or other benefits,” he added. Vijayan said the number of people working in organised sector has also come down drastically. ”Normally, there should be an increase. In 2016-17, there were 11.29 lakh employees in the Central PSUs. In 2021, it has gone down to 8.62 lakh staff. That means in five years, 2.68 lakh jobs were lost in India. This is because the Centre is not interested in providing jobs,” Vijayan said.