Anti-FDI bundh unsuccessful in Mangalore, CPI (M) protests

Anti-FDI bundh unsuccessful in Mangalore, CPI (M) protests

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Dec 1, 2011: The Confederation of All India Traders had called for an all-India bundh today as a mark of protest against the union government’s move to permit foreign direct investment (FDI) in the retail sector, but the call has gone unheeded in the coastal city of Mangalore as people went about their work as usual. 

The protest against the union government’s move to permit FDI in retail sector was confined to areas such as the DC’s office.

 

 

Both BJP and CPI had extended their support to the bundh, but it was just not effective in Mangalore.

Today, the CPI (M) organized a protest rally from Town Hall to the DC’s office.

Speaking on the occasion, K R Shriyan, Deputy Secretariat member of CPI(M)he said that there are 400 street vendors in the city and the central government is getting the contribution of Rs 40 crore to country’s GDP.

He also said that the foreign direct investment has a number of dangers and will definitely lead to unemployment problems while destroying existing businesses and supply chains. FDI in retail will ruin farmers because foreign companies will lease their land and force there to grow crops as per their choice, he warned.

Muneer Katipalla, the vice president of the DYFI (state), and Sunil Kumar Bajal, the city convener of the CPI (M), verbally attacked the union government by approving FDI in retail without considering the views of senior ministers such as A. K. Anthony. 

The protestors said that they will oppose the measure because it threatens the livelihood of innumerable retail traders and their families.