‘The relationship broke due to government’s unilateralism’

I sincerely regret that there has been a breach. It was because of the unilateralism that was being followed by the government.

Fundamentalism is not the only enemy of the country. Poverty is also an enemy. Therefore, people wanted a renewed initiative on both fronts. I do not say that nothing has been done. But much more needed to be done. The government did not fulfill the expectations of the people. That is the tragedy, and under the shadow of that tragedy, we are today discussing the vote of confidence.

The Left has been sincere. We had lent our political support. We never enjoyed the fruit of power. We never became ministers. We never wanted to become ministers. It was always a political support to a formation.

Repeatedly, the prices of petroleum products were increased bypassing all alternatives. Our view on how to contain the price rise was not taken into consideration by the government. Our warning, that growing and galloping disparity of growth threatens the very fabric of the country, went completely unheeded. This is why the relationship has broken.

The last nail on the coffin was the way in which the government bulldozed, or today is seeking to bulldoze, the India-US nuclear deal. Was it necessary enough to sacrifice the relationship? Will the Congress party ponder over it? We do not buy the theory of ‘imported inflation’ when we take into consideration the prices in other countries, which import petroleum. Why is Inflation so low there? Why is it so high in India?

The government does not have any political commitment to touch the rich people because of the relationship they have developed.

At a time when price rise is at a 13-month high, industrial output is low and production of capital goods has fallen to 2.5 per cent, is this a sign of a healthy economy that the government is building? Six core industries have slipped to 3.5 per...