CPM leader and member of the National Politburo Brinda Karat slammed UPA led centre Govt for falling to place the Lokpal Bill in Parliament despite the recommendations of the Select Committee.

She was speaking at the National Convention of SFI delegates at Shimla. Targeting at the Congress and BJP, she claimed that both UPA and NDA were incapable of protecting people’s interests. CPM leader betted for the third front and asserted that people would have to look beyond the Congress and the BJP, which were the two sides of the same coin. She claimed that only third front can protect the interests of the country and can steer the nation in the right direction.

She rejected Modi’s model of governance and said that it could not be the model for India as the social indicators in Gujarat had made it clear that things were not as hunky-dory as being projected by the BJP. Karat said that Gujarat’s pro-corporate model of development can’t be replicated in other part of the country.

She also opposed foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail, pension, insurance and banking as she claimed that it was not in the interest of the nation. She also slammed centre Govt for denying asylum to Edward Snowden, the former US security contractor who has exposed the massive snooping operation of the US government, and said that the Indian government had mortgaged its foreign policy with USA as the foreign minister Salman Kurshid has even defended gross violation of individual privacy trampled upon in the process.

CPM leader also targeted state government and accused the Congress of giving a red carpet welcome to real estate ventures just like the BJP had done in the past. She asked state government to protect fragile hill ecology of state.

Brinda Karat also criticised Himachal Govt’s hastiness for introducing semester system and choice based credit system (CBCS) under the RashtriyaUchchtarShikhsaAbhiyan (RUSA). She said that she will raise it during the next parliamentary session.