Kochi: The CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury has called for the Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme on the lines of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act as a remedy to the widening income inequality in the country.
Arguing that urban India is becoming a 'grim' space displaying the 'obscene levels' of income inequality, he said the left parties have been calling for an employment guarantee scheme for quite long.
The UPA Government has promised that a similar urban project will follow the MNREGA, he said at a meet-the-press programme here on Wednesday.
The CPM leader asked the Congress to explain the mode of implementation of the welfare schemes including the universal basic income (UBI) scheme proposed by it.
The CPM and the left parties are clear in their vision of raising the resources for the welfare measures, and we have spoken about it openly.
"We have called taxing the super-rich with the introduction of wealth, inheritance and security transaction taxes. The Congress has to spell out the details of how the party is going to implement the welfare measures spelt out by it in the manifesto," he said.
"If the Congress is going to implement the partial UBI by annulling the existing social welfare measures, it will have disastrous consequences."
On the failure of opposition parties to firm up alliances against the BJP Mr Yechury said that more than pre-poll alliances in India it was always the post-poll alliances that mattered.
Rahul Gandhi's Wayanad foray:
He was careful in his remarks on Congress president Rahul Gandhi choosing Wayanad as his second constituency and setting up a direct contest with the Left.
Apart from saying that it is for the Congress to explain the political message conveyed by the decision the CPM leader refrained from launching a frontal attack, unlike Kerala leaders.
Anti-women comments:
Yechury has also tried to extricate the party from the sexist remarks made by LDF convener A. Vijayaraghavan against UDF candidate Remya Haridas, saying the CPM had always stood for gender equality and opposed any comments insulting women and other marginal sections.
"Frankly I am not aware of what exactly is the comments as I don't understand Malayalam," he said.
"The party state leadership is competent to take appropriate steps in case of any mistakes. The issue is not warranting the intervention of the central leadership."
The CPM general secretary has also distanced from the 'Pappu' remarks made by the party mouthpiece Deshabhimani against Mr Gandhi.
The CPM is against targeting individuals with insulting remarks. Our opposition has always been against the policies, he explained.
National Party status:
He said he is hopeful that the CPM will retain its national party status with a two-digit number.
For a national party status, a political party should have at least 11 MPs in Lok Sabha from two states or 1 out of 25 MLAs from a minimum of four states. CPM currently has only nine MPs.
