SAD to vote against FDI in retail: Badal
Saturday, 01/12/2012
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TAPPA KHERA ( MUKTSAR): Chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on Friday said the Shiromani Akali Dal ( SAD) will vote against the bill introduced by the union government to allow Foreign Direct Investment ( FDI) in the retail sector in the ongoing winter session of Parliament.
Talking to mediapersons on the sidelines of the second and concluding day of his Sangat Darshan programme i n the Lambi assembly segment, the chief minister reiterated the commitment of the SAD to oppose this ‘ anti- trader’ and ‘ anti- farmer’ bill of the Centre tooth and nail.
Badal categorically said the SAD cannot remain a mute spectator to this move of the Centre, which was aimed at benefitting multi- national companies and ruining petty traders and distressed farmers of the country in a clandestine manner. Terming the union government’s step as unfortunate and suicidal, he said “the history of our country was replete with examples that — the foreign traders under the guise of East India Company and now the MNCs — have not only plundered our economy but also destroyed the indigenous industry”.
Mincing no words, the chief minister said the Congress- led UPA was all set out to repeat the same folly as committed nearly 300 years ago, which would completely decimate petty shopkeepers, small traders and local establishments. “We are well aware of the harsh consequences of this pro- rich and anti- poor stance at the behest of MNCs and will oppose this derogatory step, within the democratic norms, till our last breath.”
Asked to comment on the controversy over the allocation of house to the leader of opposition in state assembly, Sunil Jakhar and illegal occupancy of a government house by for former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, the chief minister said law would take its own course on the matter.
Earlier, addressing people during a Sangat Darshan Badal exhorted farmers to adopt allied farming activities to supplement their income.
